SPRINGFIELD — Bishop William Byrne of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has appointed Norman Charest as interim director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance.
Charest, previously an investigator for the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance, took over his new role on Dec. 1. Former Director Jeffrey Trant announced his departure in October after having been named executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and North Quabbin, effective Feb. 1, 2023.
In making this appointment, Byrne expressed gratitude to Charest for accepting the interim position.
“It is important that the progress we have made under Dr. Trant’s tenure not be compromised during this transition, while we conduct a national search for a new director,” Byrne said in a statement. “I am most grateful to Mr. Charest for agreeing to oversee the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance, providing important continuity over the coming months.”
Charest is a 37-year veteran of the Springfield Police Department, retiring as a lieutenant. He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England College (now Western New England University). He has worked as a detective, detective sergeant and detective lieutenant in charge of the special victims’ unit. Charest has years of experience investigating child abuse and sex crimes.
“I am honored to accept the position as interim director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance for the Diocese of Springfield,” Charest said in a statement. “The work done in this office is so very important to victims/survivors and their families and I will continue the work already begun by the diocese.”
SPRINGFIELD — As part of its ongoing commitment to provide regular communications regarding safe environment efforts, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield recently issued a quarterly report on updates made to the online listing of “Finding of Credibility of Allegations of Sexual Abuse of a Minor.”
During the last quarter, there was an additional credible allegation against the late Father Thomas O’Connor, whose full assignment listing can be found at diospringfield.org/oseva-credible-allegation-abuse-minor.
An allegation being found credible does not mean a finding of guilt and because he was deceased when the allegation was brought forward, O’Connor was unable to respond to this allegation. Nonetheless, the Review Board carefully reviewed this allegation, including a report issued by the diocesan investigative team, and found this allegation to be credible.
The diocese encourages anyone who has information on misconduct to report this directly to law enforcement as well as to the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance at 413-452-0624, via the hotline at 1-800-842-9055 or by email to reportabuse@diospringfield.org.
HOLYOKE — Maureen St. Cyr has taken over as executive director of the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, a civil rights organization dedicated to providing free legal services to combat and remedy housing discrimination in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden and Worcester counties.
St. Cyr replaces attorney Meris Berquist, who has served as executive director for the past 15 years. She previously worked as a staff attorney specializing in housing law with Community Legal Aid in Worcester.
“We are thrilled to have Maureen lead us into the next chapter,” Massachusetts Fair Housing Center board President Ellen Pader said in a statement. “She combines legal experience with a deep understanding of the many, often subtle, ways in which discriminatory housing practices present themselves. She is a natural collaborator and we look forward to the new partnerships she will develop with social justice and social service organizations throughout western Massachusetts.”
St. Cyr will guide the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center in its enforcement of federal fair housing laws that forbid discrimination. For more information about the center’s work, visit massfairhousing.org.
BOSTON — The Secretary of State’s Office has certified the official results of the carbon cashback non-binding question that appeared on the Nov. 8 ballot in three state representative districts.
The question proposed a fee on the carbon content of fossil fuels with most of the proceeds to be returned to individuals as cashback. The question carried the combined vote of all three districts with 29,500 “yes” votes (55.9%) and 23,239 “no” votes.
It carried the 1st Hampshire District, which includes all of Northampton and many of the surrounding hilltowns (represented by Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton), with 70.0% voting “yes,” passing in eight out of nine municipalities. It also won the 1st Franklin District, which encompasses much of Greenfield and nearby towns (represented by Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield) with 60.7% “yes” votes, carrying 13 of 17 voting areas.
However, in the 5th Worcester District, which contains the suburbs of Worcester (represented by Donald Berthiaume, R-Spencer) it got 35.2% “yes” votes, losing in all 12 towns.
Tim Walter of the Ashfield chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby stated, “Considering that not one cent was spent on advertising in any of the three districts and that the vote happened at a time of high inflation and gas prices, these results are quite remarkable. However it also shows that there is much more education to be done about the climate crisis and the dangers of global heating.”