Speaker of the See

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When Sue Bernard left her job as news anchor at Aroostook County’s only television station, she was on the air five times a week.

By the end of the first month of her new job in Portland, she was on the air morning, noon and night in every newscast in the state. Her statements appeared in daily and weekly newspapers all over New England.

Over the next three months, Bernard fielded hundreds of calls from reporters about accusations of sexual abuse by Maine priests, became an official spokeswoman, and found herself on the receiving end of reporters’ questions.

Bernard, 46, is director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which comprises all of Maine’s parishes.

She had been on the job just four days when the priest sex scandal broke in the state the first week of February 2002.

“I was hoping for a more private lifestyle, out of the public eye,” said Bernard recently in explaining why she took the job. “And, more private time with my daughter and a more private life for her.”

After nearly two years on the job, the Fort Fairfield native, who was confirmed at St. Denis parish in her hometown, can laugh about how her search for a more sequestered life turned out. Her schedule at the diocesan offices in Portland in those first months on the job eclipsed her most hectic weeks as news director of WAGM-TV 8 in Presque Isle.

On her fourth day on the job, Bernard started getting phone calls from reporters about diocesan priests who had been accused of sexually abusing minors. Bernard said that while she was trying to return five or six calls left on her voice mail, another half dozen would pile up.

On Feb. 10, 2002, the diocese announced that it would disclose the identities of active priests who had been accused of sexually abusing minors. That same weekend, the Rev. Michael Doucette of St. Agatha and the Rev. John Audibert of Madawaska announced their histories of sexual abuse to their parishes.

“By then, the phone calls were constant,” she recalled. “My main goal was to return all calls by the end of the day and that might take until 8 o’clock.”

In hindsight, Bernard admitted, she probably should have expected the questions in light of the priest abuse scandal that already had broken in the Archdiocese of Boston.

“I honestly didn’t think it would happen here,” she said.

After her three interviews for the job, Bernard thought that as communications director she would be working to update and increase circulation of Church World, the diocesan newspaper. She also believed she would spend much of her time disseminating information from the bishop’s office to parishes throughout the state.

She did not expect to be the face and voice of the diocese communicating with the secular world about a shameful time in her church’s history.

“Sue came at a very, very difficult period,” said Bishop Joseph J. Gerry of Bernard’s first months on the job. “It was a baptism by fire. But, she’s brought the expertise of a professional to bear in this whole matter and has been extremely helpful. She knows the profession, she knows how to talk with these people, she knows what to say and what they’re looking for.”

Gerry, 75, who is waiting to hear from the Vatican when his retirement will go into effect, admitted that his own reluctance to face the cameras and reporters put Bernard in the position of speaking for the diocese about the scandal and its aftermath.

“One of my greatest weaknesses is dealing with the media,” Gerry said. “I don’t know why, but you put a microphone in front of me and I am tongue-tied.”

Bernard’s comfort with microphones, cameras and reporters is a result of more than 25 years’ experience in radio and television. As news director at WAGM-TV 8 in Presque Isle for 21 years, she did every job from operating the camera to reporting, anchoring and producing the newscasts. During her tenure, the newsroom staff grew from four to 16 and newscasts went from five per week to four a day.

As a liaison from the bishop’s office to the news media during the early months of 2002, Bernard began her days meeting with the bishop and his staff. Her job, she said, was to explain what information reporters would be asking for on that particular day and to help discern what should be made public and what had to remain private.

Bernard said that she succeeded in getting church officials to be more open with the media than they had in the past.

Emotionally, however, it was a very difficult time.

“There were days when it was hard to say, ‘I’m proud to be a Catholic,'” Bernard said. “But I know that it’s brought me closer to my faith because it’s been tested and tested often and then renewed and strengthened.”

In the new year, Bernard said, she plans to continue doing what she has done for the past two years – working as a conduit for information between the diocese and the secular world and the bishop and his flock.

And the bishop expressed great faith in her abilities.

“Sue is a great, great blessing to us,” he said. “She’s very forthright, very open and honest. She’s just been a tremendous gift.”

Abuse srutiny to continue

Scrutiny of Maine’s Roman Catholic diocese is not over. Sue Bernard, its chief spokeswoman, says the ripples from the priest abuse scandal of the past two years will continue in the new year:

. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is expected to consider whether the Attorney General’s Office must release to the media the names of priests, living and dead, who have been accused of sexual abuse as well as the names of their victims.

. A national review board is scheduled to release its report on how well dioceses around the country are complying with the charter for protection of children and young people implemented by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kathleen McChesney, director of the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection, is scheduled to discuss the report’s results during a national news conference Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

. Results of the first survey to compile statistics on how many priests have been accused of sexual abuse over the past 50 years also are scheduled to be released soon.