BoysCherries - Ave Involvement
Fri, Jul13, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
This morning, individuals released statements to
AveWatch that strengthen the evidence that help was
offered by Ave Maria employees to Fr. Bill
Thomas during the earliest stages of a state
police investigation into gay and child
pornography on Thomas' computer.
Bob & Judy Zabik are parishioners at Fr. Thomas' Holy Spirit Parish. Mrs. Zabik served as Acting Principle of the parish school and served as the Chair of the Finance Committee for five years. Statement:
"Our last conversation with Fr. Thomas was after the 11:00am Mass on the last Sunday that he said Mass at Holy Spirit. Fr. Thomas told us that he was having someone at Ave Maria help him replace his hard drive. He didn't tell us who, and he didn't tell us which Ave Maria entity, and we didn't ask. Fr. Thomas also spoke about "getting a new brain" for his computer at his homily in that Mass."
"I mentioned Fr. Thomas' comments about Ave Maria to Patrick Flynn. It is my understanding that, eventually, news of this got to Ave Maria Law School, and the Dean of the Law School contacted Patrick looking for names and dates."
Patrick Flynn, the parish employee who first discovered and reported the pornography also said:
".. after Father Bill [Thomas] went lakeside, Dean Falvey [Ave Maria School of Law] called me at my office. He wanted to know if I knew any more about Father possibly taking his computer to AM [Ave Maria]. I told him that I did not. I only knew what he told the parishioner and that he did not specify which AM entity he was headed for. Falvey sounded sincerely upset that the Law School could quite possibly have been abused in this way."
Other evidence pointing to Ave Maria's likely involvement:
+ The police incident report states "Pavlock stated that he was told by Father Thomas that Father took the hard drive and he gave it to Dr. Silva at Ave Maria College in Ann Arbor. Pavlock stated that Dr. Silva had the hard drive for a short period of time before he shipped it back to Father Thomas."
+ AveWatch has a protected source who reports knowing that Fr. Orsi admitted to directing Law School IT staff to Fr. Thomas.
+ AveWatch received the following statement from Robert Falls, Monaghan's PR agent, corroborating that the Law School's Chaplain, Fr. Michael Orsi (also an assisting pastor at Holy Spirit Church) was involved:
"Each and every allegation concerning the incident in question -- which is not accurately portrayed in the article--was fully and thoroughly investigated by an outside law firm (the same law firm that has been widely praised for its recent internal investigation into the death of a student at Eastern Michigan University) and no wrongdoing by any person connected w/AMSL was found to have occurred--specifically including Father Orsi or anyone in the IT department."
The law firm mentioned here is Butzel-Long, Tom Monaghan's long-time legal representation. Why would Butzel-Long do an internal investigation at the Law School, and Falls specifically mention Orsi and the IT department if, in fact, they had no contact with Fr. Thomas about his computer?
Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College must clearly state whether any of its employees were involved in the handling or offering of help to Fr. Thomas while he was under investigation by police. If Ave Maria was involved, they must also state the nature of that involvement and why such involvement was not reported to the police.
Bob & Judy Zabik are parishioners at Fr. Thomas' Holy Spirit Parish. Mrs. Zabik served as Acting Principle of the parish school and served as the Chair of the Finance Committee for five years. Statement:
"Our last conversation with Fr. Thomas was after the 11:00am Mass on the last Sunday that he said Mass at Holy Spirit. Fr. Thomas told us that he was having someone at Ave Maria help him replace his hard drive. He didn't tell us who, and he didn't tell us which Ave Maria entity, and we didn't ask. Fr. Thomas also spoke about "getting a new brain" for his computer at his homily in that Mass."
"I mentioned Fr. Thomas' comments about Ave Maria to Patrick Flynn. It is my understanding that, eventually, news of this got to Ave Maria Law School, and the Dean of the Law School contacted Patrick looking for names and dates."
Patrick Flynn, the parish employee who first discovered and reported the pornography also said:
".. after Father Bill [Thomas] went lakeside, Dean Falvey [Ave Maria School of Law] called me at my office. He wanted to know if I knew any more about Father possibly taking his computer to AM [Ave Maria]. I told him that I did not. I only knew what he told the parishioner and that he did not specify which AM entity he was headed for. Falvey sounded sincerely upset that the Law School could quite possibly have been abused in this way."
Other evidence pointing to Ave Maria's likely involvement:
+ The police incident report states "Pavlock stated that he was told by Father Thomas that Father took the hard drive and he gave it to Dr. Silva at Ave Maria College in Ann Arbor. Pavlock stated that Dr. Silva had the hard drive for a short period of time before he shipped it back to Father Thomas."
+ AveWatch has a protected source who reports knowing that Fr. Orsi admitted to directing Law School IT staff to Fr. Thomas.
+ AveWatch received the following statement from Robert Falls, Monaghan's PR agent, corroborating that the Law School's Chaplain, Fr. Michael Orsi (also an assisting pastor at Holy Spirit Church) was involved:
"Each and every allegation concerning the incident in question -- which is not accurately portrayed in the article--was fully and thoroughly investigated by an outside law firm (the same law firm that has been widely praised for its recent internal investigation into the death of a student at Eastern Michigan University) and no wrongdoing by any person connected w/AMSL was found to have occurred--specifically including Father Orsi or anyone in the IT department."
The law firm mentioned here is Butzel-Long, Tom Monaghan's long-time legal representation. Why would Butzel-Long do an internal investigation at the Law School, and Falls specifically mention Orsi and the IT department if, in fact, they had no contact with Fr. Thomas about his computer?
Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College must clearly state whether any of its employees were involved in the handling or offering of help to Fr. Thomas while he was under investigation by police. If Ave Maria was involved, they must also state the nature of that involvement and why such involvement was not reported to the police.