BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Ousted over E-Mails By Shawn Boburg Eagle-Tribune [Lawrence MA] March 30, 2005 The Rev. Michael C. Randone has been fired as chaplain of Central Catholic High School and resigned as pastor of Haverhill's Sacred Hearts Church after it was discovered he was sending private electronic messages to several Central students. At least one of the messages sent using Randone's on-screen name, "padreraider," "had some sexual content and was improper and highly inappropriate," school officials said. The message prompted a student's family member to alert the school two weeks ago, officials said yesterday. The school contacted the Boston Archdiocese and the office of District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, which is investigating the incident, spokesman Stephen O'Connell said last night. The archdiocese said in a statement that it notified civil authorities and began its own review. "In order to address this situation and with consideration for the parish family of Sacred Hearts, Randone has submitted his resignation as pastor," the statement said. Randone, 36, had been pastor at Sacred Hearts, a 2,300-family parish in the Bradford section of Haverhill, since July 2003. The archdiocese said Randone resigned yesterday, but parishioners said he had not presided over Mass since at least Thursday. They were told during Holy Thursday that Randone was not feeling well. The archdiocese has no jurisdiction over Central Catholic. The popular pastor known as "Father Mike" was not at the parish rectory last night and did not return messages left on his cell phone or e-mail. A senior priest at Sacred Hearts, Rev. Richard Moran, referred all questions to the archdiocese. Randone grew up in Methuen and was a priest at St. Michael in North Andover from 1995 to 2000 before a three-year assignment in Billerica. He has a long history of working with children, especially through youth sports leagues. Randone admitted to school officials that he had exchanged private computer messages with at least three students at his high school alma mater, violating a policy the school put in place in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that limits off-campus contact between faculty and students. It was the third time he had violated the school's policy in as many years. But he denied sending the inappropriate message that initiated the inquiry, telling school officials that someone must have broken into his account and sent the message using his online name -- "padreraider" -- a reference to the private high school's mascot, The Raiders. Central Catholic officials would not specify the content of the message or the gender and age of the student who received it because they said they could not prove it was sent by Randone. The message was not a solicitation, school officials said. But on Wednesday, they told Randone he was no longer welcome at the school. Randone was warned verbally in 2002 after he took a group of students out to dinner and in writing in 2003 after a student was seen in his car without proper authorization, school officials said. None of the violations the school was able to verify was sexual, but Central Catholic officials, sensitive to the clergy abuse scandal, said they could not guarantee that inappropriate conduct did not take place because the communication was unsupervised. "Even though to our knowledge nothing criminal occurred, he flouted a school policy that we put in place to prevent anything like that from ever taking place and he violated it repeatedly after several warnings," said Richard Van Houten, president of Central Catholic. "Based on what we know, this is about insubordination. Is there more to this? We don't know." Off-campus contact between students and adult staff members requires permission of the principal and parents. School officials said two other faculty members have been warned for contacting students off campus without permission since the policy went into effect in the spring of 2002, after two former teachers at the school were accused of sexually abusing students in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Central Catholic officials said the inappropriate instant message came to light two weeks ago. The student who received the computer message "was sufficiently bothered by it to inform an older sibling and alumnus who was home for vacation." The sibling alerted the school and Central Catholic told Randone to temporarily stay away from the school and its students on March 19. He was fired on Wednesday and school officials sent a letter home with students today to inform parents of the decision. "We're assuming there were many incidences of instant messaging since he admitted to instant messaging with students in general," said Michael Morris Sr., an Andover lawyer and member of the Central Catholic board of directors' executive committee. School officials said they interviewed the student who received the inappropriate message and were told Randone exchanges instant messages with at least two other students. School officials have not yet interviewed those two students, they said. Morris said "it was clear from the context that there had not been any inappropriate behavior" besides the instant messaging. Still, Morris said school officials also filed a so-called 51A, or abuse report, with the Department of Social Services because the inappropriate message fell "in a gray area that could just be deemed an adult talking about inappropriate things." He added that it "could have been about the Red Sox" and Randone still would have been fired for violating the school's strict policy. The staff at Central Catholic learned of the chaplain's departure from the school at a 15-minute meeting this morning before classes began and were to discuss it with students in class. Students will "experience a variety of feelings -- confusion, anger or betrayal among them," said Van Houten. He encouraged parents to talk to students and the school about their concerns. "We want to let students and parents know our door is open." A well-known figure at the school, Randone volunteered as a chaplain at the school one day a week and was scheduled to coach the school's junior varsity lacrosse team this spring. He attended most of the school's sporting events and led the football team in prayer before every game. A man at Randone's parent's Methuen home who identified himself as Randone's father, Charles Randone, said he had no comment. Tom Carbone, a parishioner at Sacred Hearts whose son attends the parish's 300-student school, said this morning that he had not heard about Randone's resignation. Randone "was great with the kids" at Sacred Hearts, he said. "I've never heard of any problems." Carbone, who also sits on the pastoral council, said Randone was successful in reinvigorating the parish's youth group, he started a mother's prayer group, and was working on expanding the parish school. Randone also worked extensively outside the church, especially with youths, public safety, and the elderly. He became a priest at the age of 26. His first assignment was in St. Michael Parish, the church his grandparents attend and where he was baptized. It was during this assignment that he became chaplain for Central Catholic, as well as chaplain for the North Andover Fire and Police departments. He was named Haverhill's first official police chaplain last year, and he often responded to the scenes of tragic events to support public safety officials and family members of victims. He was on the board of directors of the Big Brothers & Sisters Association of Greater Lawrence for two years, one as vice president. He is also a registered basketball official and he organized the Merrimack Valley Catholic Youth Organization's basketball league in 1991. He founded the Massachusetts Corps of Police chaplains in March 2002 to train, recruit and support clergymen serving as public safety chaplains and was appointed in 2003 as chaplain of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, ministering to officers who police the Merrimack River and Boston Harbor.
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