enlarge 2006 Press Herald file

Paul Kendrick has received an order from the Catholic Church to “abstain from all verbal and written communication and physical contact with” Bishop Richard Malone.

By his own admission, he's long been a thorn in the side of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. But in all the years he's spent lambasting the church hierarchy on behalf of those sexually abused by its priests, Paul Kendrick never thought it would come to this.

"Over the past years, it has become apparent that you are unwilling to cease from publicly slandering and defaming (Bishop Richard Malone's) character," stated a recent letter to Kendrick from the Rev. Andrew Dubois, the diocese's vicar general. "This is a cause of great scandal, which may impede (Malone's) effective ministry."

It was not an idle observation. Attached to Dubois' letter was a "canonical precept," or order, from Malone mandating that Kendrick "abstain from all verbal and written communication and physical contact with me."

Malone's precept also prohibits Kendrick from being "present in the same building with me (or) within 500 feet of me in public places."

Finally, it instructs Kendrick to follow "the prescripts of civil law" – most notably criminal-trespass and cease-harassment notices issued on Dec. 18 against Kendrick at the bishop's behest by the Portland Police Department.

Failure to follow Malone's decree, Kendrick was warned, could result in a canon-law "interdict" against him. Like the more serious sanction of outright excommunication, an interdict would bar Kendrick from attending church services or receiving the sacraments.

Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the diocese, says Kendrick has more than earned the rebuke with his frequent public statements chastising Malone and the near-constant correspondence he sends to the diocese's chancery office.

"It's been obvious for years that the bishop has been taking this – turning the other cheek, turning the other cheek and not doing anything," said Bernard. "This has gone so far beyond victim advocacy. This is about harassment."

But Kendrick, who has retained two lawyers – one secular, the other canonical – for whatever lies ahead, has a markedly different interpretation of Malone's motives.

"It's to send a message of, 'Don't challenge us. Don't ask us questions. Don't speak out,' " Kendrick said. "Would I change the things I've done if these are the criteria for (an interdict)? No."

Kendrick, a lifelong Roman Catholic who was educated by Jesuits through high school and college, has railed against the church's handling of the so-called "priest scandals" almost since they first surfaced here in Maine and beyond eight years ago.

He's spoken with numerous people who have said they are victims and their families, some of whom have revealed their stories of abuse to him for the first time.

He's picketed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, along with other churches around Maine, to call attention to alleged abusers still among the ranks of Maine's Roman Catholic priests.

And long after the church-abuse stories faded from the front pages, Kendrick continues to deluge Malone and his staff with letters and e-mails exhorting them to be more welcoming of the church's victims and less protective of the priests who abused them. One such e-mail, written on Dec. 16, prompted Malone to retaliate.

CHURCH TAKES NOTICE

After telling Malone that he hoped to attend midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Christmas, Kendrick wrote that he would be sitting in the front row to hear the bishop's traditional Christmas homily.

"I will come in peace," Kendrick wrote. "But if you happen to look my way from time to time, you may see me shaking my head ever so slightly in disbelief, or my head may be in my hands as I pray for tolerance to remain seated in spite of your hypocrisy."

Bernard said the diocese took that as a threat to disrupt the service, prompting Malone to obtain the police notices and issue the official church warning...