Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published April 24, 2002

When accusations become fact

You have probably heard of the report originating in the Los Angeles Times that Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who oversees the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States, has been accused of sexual molestation. That was the banner headline, and it was picked up by the Associated Press, Reuters News Agency and the usual TV talking heads. And to think that a Cardinal in the Holy Roman Catholic Church could have done such a thing! For shame, for shame! He should be defrocked and run out of town on a rail!

Now that the headlines have run, and the reputation of Cardinal Mahony has been placed in question, we learn that his accuser, Flora Mae Hickman, 51, of Fresno, CA, has been diagnosed for years as a paranoid schizophrenic, has been taking medication for depression and that her memory of clerical abuse was triggered when she got "a letter from the state that they're going to cut my disability to $235 a month. I won't be able to pay my rent ... I need compensation."

But that didn't stop NBC from broadcasting her accusation that she was knocked unconscious while was crossing the campus of San Joaquin Memorial Catholic High School back in 1969, and when she woke up, school instructor Mahony was "hovering over her." She then told the Associated Press that she was knocked unconscious while fighting with students, and waked to find the "bottom" portion of her clothing removed, and Mahony "over her."

To another interviewer she said her only encounter with Father Mahony came after she fainted outside the band room, and that Mahony hit her. But she later admitted to the Times, "I can't even tell you when it happened," and that other family members, high school classmates and former co-workers had also molested, abused or emotionally mistreated her.

But that's not the real story. The real story is the feeding frenzy, without checking the facts, by all the news media over an unfounded accusation that, from all indications, was merely the fantasy of a mentally disturbed woman. More to be pitied than anything else.

As you might imagine, the accusations made banner headlines, and lead stories with all the TV news celebrities. But the details of Ms. Hickman's unfortunate mental condition, and the obvious fallacy of her fabrication, has hardly been mentioned.

Certainly we have seen examples of clerical wrongdoings. And that's bad. But it doesn't excuse the press for jumping to their own conclusions, and broadcasting those conclusions as fact. And how does Cardinal Mahony ever go about recovering his good name?

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Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.