Men [of God] slowly getting their overdue comeuppance
Michael Newton
one salutary effect: here and there, churches are being shut down and sold
off, going out of business. Apparently some of the gullible sheep are
finally wising up and withholding their hard-earned money from this gang of
swindlers, tax-dodgers and sexual predators.
mn
--
http://www.michaelnewton.homestead.com/
######
More churches up for sale
CATHERINE SOLYOM
Montreal Gazette
Sunday, May 26, 2002
The stained glass has been sold, the bell is on the block, the last statue,
a "guardian" of the Notre Dame de Grâce church that stood in its garden for
83 years, disappeared last week. Still, Ann Ascoli thinks of the embattled
St. Augustine of Canterbury fondly. Few people have been so involved in the
life - and death - of their church. Ascoli, née Gregory, was confirmed in
St. Augustine's. She was married there, her children were married there,
her parents were buried from there. "I'll have my own funeral here," Ascoli
proclaimed. But first, as warden, she has the unenviable task of selling
the church, sometime before the roof caves in and amid protests by
residents and activists all yelling sacrilege! They are clamouring to
preserve their cultural heritage - or at least stop the church from turning
into condos. But Ascoli said it's her heritage, not theirs, to dispose of.
"Not one of them ever stepped foot inside the church before, and not one
of them contributed one cent to it." "They just want to live next to a
church," Ascoli said. "I'm fed up with all the wrangling, and if someone
comes along and makes a ridiculous offer, I'll take it." For now, both
sides are reviewing the options, but the issues they're grappling with go
beyond this one church. - - -
As more Montreal steeples fade into the background of daily life, the same
conflict may soon play out in Catholic churches across the island.
According to the Archdiocese of Montreal, as many as 25 Catholic parishes
have closed since 1960.
But according to its Web site, at least a dozen parishes have closed over
the last two years alone (see sidebar). And as the numbers dwindle, it is
estimated that up to 100 places of worship - many of them Catholic - may be
put up for sale across Montreal in the next decade. Some would like to see
some of those churches turned into apartments, to ease the crisis that has
Montreal's rental stock bursting at the seams. Heritage Montreal, on the
other hand, would like to see the architectural gems, including their inner
sanctuaries, preserved. There's no place for a bathroom at the altar, they
say.
Meanwhile, the same question is troubling both parishioners and developers:
what do you do with a used church?
When Mark Twain visited Montreal in 1881, he remarked that "you couldn't
throw a brick without breaking a church window."
Nowadays, you might break the window of a condo in a church. Much has
changed since Twain passed through Montreal. While Canada's Catholic
population grew to almost 10 million in 1971 (from about 1.5 million in
1871), church attendance plummeted, especially in Quebec. There are still
about 600 places of worship in Montreal, about half of them Catholic.
Attendance in those churches went from 75 per cent in 1970 to about 8 per
cent today, said Bernard Fortin, in charge of pastoral planning for the
Archdiocese of Montreal. - - -
Two years ago, the Archdiocese started looking into what could be done with
the vast spaces, conveniently located on prime real estate in the heart of
every community.
Each parish has been asked to evaluate its viability: revenue vs. cost of
repair and maintenance for each church. Fortin said about 20 per cent of
parishes are now running a deficit, and the Archdiocese no longer has the
manpower to staff all the churches, especially since it now has sole
responsibility for teaching catechism. Only four new priests will be
ordained at the end of the month - none next year - and the average age of
a Montreal priest is 62, Fortin said. "But we can't just give the property
away. Will 42 parishes close? I don't know. It will take time to decide and
they will close one by one." That's just what heritage activists like Dinu
Bumbaru are afraid of. "We're discussing a church at a time, but there
should be a broader policy," said Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal. "In this
situation, we're heading towards a dead end that will be disastrous in just
a few years. The market will be flooded with churches for sale and people
will be in tears watching the bulldozers come in."
The city's new heritage councillor, Helen Fotopoulos, agreed. "We have to
look at preventive intervention instead of always trying to put out the
fire or come up with a last-minute solution," said Fotopoulos, who is
studying the whole question, focusing on conversions in terms of each
borough's needs. "But given the current situation, without a heritage
policy or anything else, unfortunately things will go to the highest
bidder." Still, creative alternatives have been found for a handful of city
churches:
- St. Robert Bellarmin Church at de Lorimier Ave. and Sherbrooke St. has
become a dance space (Espace Chorégraphique Jean-Pierre Perrault.).
- St. Etienne on Christophe Colombe near Rosemont Blvd., is to be
demolished for three social housing projects - one for the elderly, a co-op
for families and housing for young mothers - with $7 million in government
grants.
- Santa Rita on Sauriol St. E. closed Dec. 31 and reopened Jan. 1 with a
residence for refugees in the rectory. Each of 15 residents pays $200 a
month to maintain the church, where mass is still held. They also plan to
put a kindergarten in the basement.
- - -
Many religious properties have been turned into condos. Some managed the
change gracefully, like the convent on Mount Royal Blvd. in Outremont.
When the Sisters of Marie Réparatrice, who have been there since 1911, put
it on sale, Développement McGill scooped it up for about $2.5 million. But
before they started turning the sisters' rooms into luxury condos, they
consulted with Outremont, which had to approve the zoning changes. "Our
way of thinking was not to put in new construction or change what was
there," said developer Philippe Boisclair. "We wanted to have a minimum
impact on the mountain and the surroundings." Of course, the convent lent
itself easily to residential use, Boisclair said, and with that massive
rosette window facing Mount Royal park, it was not hard to find buyers -
only three of the 35 condominiums, priced between $299,000 and $800,000
remain to be sold.
The St. Jean de la Croix church in Little Italy is another story. Built in
1926, it closed down about two years ago when the parish couldn't afford to
heat it any longer. Early offers involved turning it into a Buddhist temple
or a circus school, but both projects were abandoned for financial reasons.
Finally, the Archdiocese sold it to a promoter, Conceptions Rachel Julien,
on condition that it keep the external structure virtually intact. But
turning a cathedral into a six-storey complex with 58 condos means
rearranging the interior. "You can't make an omelette without breaking a
few eggs," developer Denis Robitaille said, adding there wasn't much
opposition to the project. "I have seen other churches where the interior
and exterior have extraordinary riches and where it would be a sacrilege to
make condos, but that wasn't the case here. For me this was a realistic
project and the zone change was unanimously approved by the city council."
Bumbaru took a different view. "We were concerned that the project was not
respecting the interior heritage," Bumbaru said. "If you look at maps of
Rome, the interior of the church was also considered public space. And here
they are chopping the church into bathrooms and kitchens." It's that
"public" space, and the perception of the church's role in the community,
that has proved more daunting for other developers wanting to convert prime
religious real estate - especially in N.D.G. - - -
Vocation, vocation, vocation. It's what has pitted a group of about 100
residents against the defunct St. Augustine church on Côte St. Antoine Rd.,
at one point the second most important Irish church in Montreal. Built in
1919, it was about to be sold to a condo developer last year for $1.1
million, after the St. Augustine parish was merged with the francophone
Notre Dame de Grâce parish. "When we paraded over to the French church,
there wasn't a dry eye in the place," church warden Ann Ascoli recalled.
The parish had sold the pews and the stained glass to help pay for the
$30,000 heating bill last year, then they tried to sell the church itself.
But residents blocked the street to stop the bell from being hauled away,
then they blocked the sale with a petition of 1,000 signatures to city
hall. "They were going to demolish the rectory and build over the garden.
We said no," explained resident Marie-Claude La Salle. "It's a century old,
it's beautiful and we don't want condos instead of a beautiful garden."
They do want daycare, however, a gym, a community centre, a youth centre or
a library. But who will pay for the building and maintain it? The nearby Au
Petits Nuages daycare has both the funding and the permit to expand into
the church's rectory - where the priest lived - to provide 70 more,
much-needed spaces. But the Archdiocese won't break up the property. It's
all or nothing, they said
"Preferably we would like the churches to keep their community vocation,"
said Fortin, adding that the developer of Place Delacroix in Little Italy
agreed to sell the rectory for $150,000 to La Maisonnette des Parents,
which organizes programs for local children and families. "But we can't
always do what we want. We have been so concerned with maintaining the
bricks and mortar of the church, that we have had no time to maintain the
faith."
And the city, while it agreed last year to hold consultations before
approving any zoning modifications for churches, doesn't have the cash
either. "We're here to be more of an advocate than a bank," Fotopoulos
says. "The city has a responsibility to provide public spaces and make sure
we have a heritage policy of our own. But other levels of government have
the money and the responsibility over Quebec and Canadian heritage." To
that end, Quebec's Culture and Communications Department earmarked $110
million to preserving Quebec churches. And in November, it announced an
agreement with the heads of different faiths in Montreal to restore some of
the places of worship and to look at recycling churches. Even Bumbaru
hailed the program as an example for other countries. "But it's a step that
shouldn't end the walk." The money is for restoration, not maintenance, and
it doesn't guarantee the future of Montreal's churches. One of the clauses
in the agreement stipulates that the public must be given a year's notice
before a place of worship "with heritage value" closes - a year to allow
for necessary public consultations and search for solutions.
But which ones have "heritage value" remains unclear. Though most were
built before 1945, only a handful are officially protected, Bumbaru said.
None of the churches mentioned in this article are.- Catherine Solyom's
E-mail address is cso...@thegazette.southam.ca.
Montreal Catholic churches closed in the last two years
Church Address Year opened
St. Henri 872 Couvent St. 1867
Ste. Cunegonde 2461 St. Jacques St. 1874
St. Jean de la Croix 6651 St. Laurent Blvd. 1900
St. Georges 100 Bernard St. W. 1908
Ste. Clotilde 5225 Notre Dame St. W. 1909
Ste. Catherine D'Alexandrie 1700 Amherst St. 1912
St. Jean 2115 Centre St. 1946
St. Mathias Apotre 1500 d'Orleans Ave. 1948
St. Barnabé Apotre 4560 Adam St. 1948
St. Eugene 3400 Beaubien St. E. 1951
St. Gabriel Lalemant 7375 Garnier St. 1951
St. Rita 655 Sauriol St. E. 1952
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id={9370160E-FCCE-4
640-AFAF-7C72D6E2F176}
Church changes vocations- again
From Anglican to Catholic to spa
CATHERINE SOLYOM
Montreal Gazette
Sunday, May 26, 2002
It was born an Anglican and raised a Catholic. Now, the Gothic-style church
at the corner of Viger and St. Denis Sts. has renounced Christianity
altogether. If its new owner has his way, the St. Sauveur church will
embrace the Cult of Me and become an "urban spa." "We're redirecting the
vocation of a community building," says Michael Sniatowsky, choosing his
words carefully. "It will be an oasis within the city, a place to get a
break or a change in lifestyle."
Opened in 1865 by the Prince of Wales (who later became Kind Edward VII)
the Holy Trinity Church's first vocation was to serve British troops
stationed here.
In 1923, it was bought by the Greek-Melchite Catholic Apostolic Church,
which held masses in French, Arabic and liturgical Greek until 1998.
But starting in December 2004, it will serve mostly ladies "concerned with
relieving stress and anti-aging," Sniatowsky said. Certainly, more
peaceful yet central surroundings would be hard to find. But the idea of a
jacuzzi in a former church does have its detractors. "It's a sad reality
that churches have to be recycled," said the Archdiocese of Montreal's
Bernard Fortin. "But I don't think we would ever sell a church to become a
spa or a restaurant. It's against our principles." Still, the latest
incarnation of the St. Sauveur church, with its 125-foot ceilings, is a
step closer to heaven than the last. Last year, Sniatowsky announced he
would make a dinner club and a spa out of the church, with the help of
Mitsou and the Cirque du Soleil.
But his plans raised eyebrows with the Jacques Viger Commission, charged
with evaluating the project.
"Certain proposals ... would desecrate the sacred character of the
premises, notably the placement of the grill room in the area where the
altar is and the installation of a disc jockey in the pulpit," it stated.
Sniatowsky remembered another group's most adamant request: that no one
ever perform Jesus Christ Superstar in the church club. Based on the
Commission's findings, the city changed the zoning for the church to allow
Sniatowsky to transform it into a club, but only on condition that he
preserve the exterior structure and the stained-glass windows by renowned
artist Guido Rincheri. Sniatowsky says he's happy to indulge them. "We're
here to preserve the splendour of the building," he said. "We'll be
extremely kosher about it."
MINNESOTA
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/2860312.html
Minnesota priest admitted to abuse, but wasn't prosecuted, paper says
Published May 25, 2002
ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Stearns County officials did not prosecute a Roman
Catholic priest nearly 20 years ago even though he admitted having sexual
encounters with a 17-year-old boy he was counseling, a newspaper reports.
The Rev. Francis Hoefgen, 51, told authorities about the abuse in 1984
after the boy came forward with allegations. A county prosecutor, however,
decided not to file charges in the case, the St. Paul Pioneer reported
today. Hoefgen is one of 13 monks or priests living under restrictions at
St. John's Abbey in Collegeville because of allegations or admissions of
sexual abuse. He is guest master at the abbey and leads spiritual retreats
at Villa Maria Retreat and Conference Center near Frontenac. Hoefgen
declined to comment.
Vincent Konz, then police chief in Cold Spring, where Hoefgen was an
associate pastor at St. Boniface church, said Hoefgen told him he was
trying to reach out to a troubled teen, according to court records. Konz
told the Pioneer Press that Hoefgen was his priest and that interrogating
him ``was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I always liked him.''
But Konz completed the paperwork and turned the case over to County
Attorney Roger Van Heel and discussed it with him in March 1984, according
to court records. Konz confirmed his actions in an interview with the
newspaper, saying he never heard back from Van Heel.
Prosecutor Patrick Strom wrote a memo two years later, in 1986, listing
reasons for not prosecuting Hoefgen. Strom argued that the allegations did
not fit the statutes and that the priest had completed treatment. Calls to
the county attorney's office Saturday went unanswered, and it's unclear why
there was a two-year gap between the date his office received the case and
when the memo was written.
Two criminal law professors said that in the 1980s, authorities would have
been reluctant to prosecute a priest. But John Sonsteng, a William Mitchell
law professor, and Joseph Daly, a Hamline University law professor who has
defended priests, said Hoefgen could have been charged with third- or
fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The victim, now a 35-year-old Minneapolis resident who asked that his name
not be used, told the newspaper that he later wondered why no action was
taken against Hoefgen. After police learned of the allegations of abuse in
1984, Hoefgen was sent to St. Luke Institute in Maryland for treatment and
in 1985 took a position at St. Boniface Church in Hastings, which later
merged with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Hoefgen left that job in 1992 when the
victim filed a civil lawsuit in Dakota County District Court. A judge
dismissed the lawsuit against Hoefgen and the church in 1993 because the
statute of limitations had expired.
The victim recalled meeting Hoefgen when the priest visited him in a
hospital in St. Cloud after he attempted suicide in 1983, court records
show. The teen-ager told the priest that he worried that he was gay.
``He said that that was OK because God couldn't hate someone for loving
someone,'' the victim recounted in a 1993 deposition. After leaving the
hospital, the teen-ager returned home briefly. But after fighting with his
parents, he moved in with Hoefgen for a few weeks, the victim told lawyers
during his deposition. Several months later the teen-ager told a
psychologist what had happened. Following the state's mandatory reporting
law, the psychologist reported the allegation to a social worker, who
contacted Cold Spring police in March 1984.
The boy then told Konz and a sheriff's deputy that Hoefgen had sexual
contact with him twice in 1983, according to court records. Konz wanted to
get the pastor out of town, and asked church officials if there was
something they could do. When abbey officials said they could send Hoefgen
to St. Luke's for treatment, Konz asked for assurances that the priest
would be made available to answer any charges. Those charges never came.
When he was deposed in the civil suit, Konz said at the time of his
investigation he was concerned about the impact on the community. ``There's
so many small people in a small town like this, they could crucify
(Hoefgen). And maybe he had it coming, but that wasn't the way things were
handled in those days,'' Konz said.
When Van Heel, who is still the county attorney, was contacted by the
newspaper, he said he didn't recall the investigation. He said documents
had been destroyed because the case is more than 10 years old. Van Heel's
office did charge another priest with sexual abuse in a separate case. In
1979, Father Raoul Gauthier was charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual
conduct after he fondled a retarded male adult, according to the Stearns
County criminal complaint signed by the same prosecutor who declined to
charge Hoefgen.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/2859438.html
St. John's community wonders about its future in light of allegations
Richard Meryhew
Star Tribune
Published May 26, 2002
COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. -- Over the years, Joe Wright made a habit of donating
money to his alma mater, St. John's Prep School. A 1981 alumnus who later
graduated from Harvard and the University of Wisconsin Law School, he has a
deep respect and affection for the school that sits amid the pines and
lakes of central Minnesota.
But when the 38-year-old attorney recently learned more about past sexual
abuse involving abbey monks, he stopped sending checks. "I don't think my
reluctance to give will last forever," Wright said the other day from his
office in Madison, Wis. "But I certainly want to send a message. And I
think it's important that they recognize that at least this alum feels like
we were not told everything when the initial stuff happened. I understand
there's a covenant between them and other monks. But the bottom line is,
they need to make that place safe."
As administrators and authorities investigate activities of about a dozen
monks living under restrictions at St. John's, officials of the abbey,
university and prep school are being overwhelmed with questions from
students, parents and alumni. At stake: St. John's reputation in academic
and religious circles, as well as its connections to the heavily Catholic
area around St. Cloud in which it is located.
Abbot John Klassen said that in the past few weeks, St. John's has received
300 to 400 e-mails in response to news reports about the sex abuse, a
Stearns County investigation into possible connections between one of the
monks and an unsolved double homicide, and the unsolved 1989 disappearance
of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling.
Most of the correspondence -- about 90 percent, Klassen said -- has been
supportive of his attempt to address issues of sex abuse more directly than
previous abbots.
But the others, he said, have been "very angry." "The anger is such that it
is grounded in a fundamental distrust," Klassen said. "So any message we
send out at this point is simply not credible."
A real sadness
Until the media attention, St. John's was known mostly for its university,
its prominence and leadership in the religious community and its scenic
2,400-acre campus about 80 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. Many of its
alumni, including former U.S. Sens. Dave Durenberger and Eugene McCarthy,
are passionate about the institution and its traditions. Sons follow
fathers and grandfathers to Collegeville, and autumn Saturdays find men
from around the state returning to campus to root for the all-male
college's football team and catch up with each other. Jim Bassett, a
retired book publisher from Randolph, Minn., had an uncle who graduated
from St. John's in the 1930s. Bassett graduated in 1958. Over the past 18
years, he's had six sons graduate from St. John's and two daughters
graduate from St. Benedict's, the sister school a few miles away in St.
Joseph.
Bassett says he returns to campus on football Saturdays not so much to
watch the game, but to stand on the hill overlooking the stadium to chat
with friends. "I think there's a real, real strong feeling, a connection,
so to speak," Bassett said. "All of my kids have just loved it. One of my
daughters said to me, 'I cried nearly every day my last semester there
because I was going to leave.' " Said Carver County Attorney Mike Fahey,
who attended the university in the early 1970s and ran track and
cross-country, "It's probably the best experience of my life. Just the
setting at St. John's -- it is, in a sense, a community up there. It's so
serene and peaceful."
But the sex-abuse scandal has shaken that sense of community, on and off
campus.
"There is a real sadness that this is part of our story and that this is
who we are," Klassen said. "And there's a growing awareness that this is
probably not going to be a blip." Said the Rev. Ian Dommer, the prep
school's principal: "It's kind of like a pall that's always kind of hanging
there. Especially for the monks. It's kind of a numbing thing, like I guess
this is part of the scenery now." Even before Stearns County authorities
disclosed this month that they were investigating one of the monks for
possible connections to a 28-year-old unsolved double homicide and the
unsolved Jacob Wetterling kidnapping, the university's student newspaper
clarified the stakes.
"Make no mistake: the abbey is the heart of everything with the St. John's
moniker," said an editorial in the April 25 edition of The Record. "Until
the monks can overcome these troubles, none of St. John's institutions will
be completely free of this scandal's shadow."
The scandal, it said, "has serious implications for the ability of St.
John's to overcome the stigma such allegations carry. As such, the
long-term health of St. John's may be compromised."
Waiting game
Just how devastating the fallout might be is uncertain. Much depends on how
the abbey continues to deal with the issue, and what comes of the
investigations. "I think the support for us is broad and deep because of
what the institution has done," Klassen said. "However, I do think people
-- friends, alums and those who support us -- are looking to see how
assertive and direct we are in our response." Jon McGee, vice president for
planning, research and communication at the university, said the abbey,
prep school and university administrators have received "better than 200
phone calls" on the issue. The university's dean of admissions and
financial aid, Mary Milbert, said her office has received fewer than 10
calls from parents "who have asked questions and expressed concerns."
None of the 465 men currently enrolled for their freshman year next fall
has indicated a change in plans, Milbert added. Nor is she aware of any
students who plan to transfer. At the prep school, also on the abbey
grounds, every student currently in grades 7 through 11 plans to return in
the fall, said the Rev. Gordon Tavis, president of the 312-student boarding
and day school. Still, Tavis said several parents have reconsidered sending
their children to summer camp on campus. And in one case, parents of a
student who had planned to enroll next fall indicated that the student no
longer plans to attend, Tavis said. Others say the real impact on all of
the St. John's institutions may not be known for years. "If they think they
measure the effect on the school by how many people call up and say they
are not coming, they are mistaken," Wright said. "It's not the kid who
calls up and says 'I'm not coming.' It's the kid whose parents never will
consider it."
Addressing the issue
Klassen also has said that there could be a substantial financial impact on
the abbey because of the payments it makes to support the counseling and
therapy of identified victims. He did not specify sums. Bob Foster, a
Minneapolis attorney and St. John's University alumnus, said he thinks
financial contributions could suffer. "I think you'd have to be naive to
say that it won't. The person who is a reluctant giver anyway, when he gets
called by St. John's, he'll have an excuse not to give."
With university students home for summer vacation, the St. John's campus is
quiet. But those watching from afar look in with a mix of apprehension and
sadness.
"I think folks are sitting down here wondering, 'Is there another shoe
that's going to drop?' " said Roger Aronson, a Minneapolis attorney and a
1976 graduate of St. John's University. "I love St. John's, but it's
important that people be held accountable for what happened there." Said
Fahey, the Carver County attorney, "It's embarrassing. Again, because a lot
of St. John's grads aren't afraid to tell people 'Yeah, I went to St.
John's.' And in the past, it's always been very positive." Shane Hoefer, a
political science major and editor of the student paper, said: "I didn't
really know how to feel at first, and to some extent, I still don't." He
graduated earlier this month. "I'm proud of being a Johnnie. And I consider
some of the monks to be very close friends. If I have kids someday, I'll
send them to St. John's if they want to go there." Bassett said it's
important for people to separate the monks under scrutiny from the rest of
the institution.
"You just have a half-dozen goofballs up there," he said. "The place is and
remains and will be a great place for a kid to go to school.
"People are probably going to be afraid, but at the same time, I don't
think something like this is ever going to happen again. . . . Now that
it's happened, and the fact it's coming out in the open may prevent it from
happening again." In recent weeks, St. John's officials have sent letters
to current students and parents and those planning to enroll this coming
fall to keep them abreast of developments. An abbey statement dated May 12
to university students and their parents said that the monk under
investigation for the unsolved double homicide had passed a lie detector
test when questioned in 1994. It also stated that the monk was serving in a
monastery in the Bahamas in October 1989, when Wetterling was abducted near
his home in St. Joseph.
Several weeks ago, Klassen also met with university and prep-school
students to discuss the issues. And later this summer, he or a spokesman
will address the issue for incoming students and their parents at
orientation. "This is not the result of a high-powered PR effort," Klassen
said. "This was just paying attention to the data and returning the phone
calls and paying attention to what is going on." Wright, who once defended
priest sexual-abuse cases for an archdiocese on the West Coast, said he is
encouraged by Klassen's work in recent weeks and thinks St. John's "is on
the right track" in dealing with the issue. Nevertheless, he said, he wants
to see more.
Wright said he knew nothing of the abuse of some of his classmates in the
early 1980s until the story first surfaced a decade later. When it did, he
said, he assumed that the abbey removed the monks involved from the
Collegeville campus.
"Part of my problem is, I've handled these cases, and I've seen how the
church in other areas has dealt with these in some ways I consider better
than what the abbey has done," he said. "Priests have been defrocked or
have resigned. The bottom line for me is, in other places, the church has
removed the offender from any possibility of contact. Their problem is,
they need to recognize this and deal with it in a way that Tylenol dealt
with tampered products. They need to say 'That's over, it'll never happen
again,' and take every step to make sure that it won't happen again."
-- Richard Meryhew is at ri...@startribune.com .
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1697/2862036.html
Some Twin Cities priests still working after abuse allegations
Associated Press
Published May 27, 2002
Roman Catholic authorities have reportedly allowed some priests accused of
sexual misconduct with children to continue working in Twin Cities-area
parishes or for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The situation
apparently conflicts with the stated policy of the archdiocese on how
priests are employed after abuse allegations.
Kevin McDonough, the vicar general of the archdiocese, said in March that
the archdiocese had "no known child abuse offenders serving in parish
ministry." A "known abuser" includes any priest who settled a complaint or
abuse lawsuit, McDonough said.
Archbishop Harry Flynn, in a statement published last week in the Catholic
Spirit newspaper, said two priests who molested children were working for
the archdiocese in administrative positions. The St. Paul Pioneer Press, in
a Sunday article, listed several cases of accused priests who are still
working in Twin Cities parishes or in archdiocesan positions.
"I think this should be dropped," said the Rev. Gilbert DeSutter, a retiree
in Arizona. "You are presuming we are guilty, and the courts didn't say
that. When you bring it back up, you are hurting everybody else, including
me. I don't think the truth demands that." DeSutter was the chief pastor of
St. Williams Catholic Church in Fridley in the late 1970s and a family
friend of Pierre Dufresne. When Dufresne was about 11, the priest offered
to take him to a cabin in Prior Lake to water-ski. In court papers filed
years later, Dufresne alleged that the priest molested him there.
"That's a lie," said DeSutter, now 74.
In 1993, Dufresne told his father what had happened, according to court
files. Gerard Dufresne told McDonough, demanding an apology and an
assurance that the priest would be kept away from adolescents. McDonough
revealed that officials had a file on the priest regarding other
sexual-misconduct allegations. Later, he told them DeSutter would be
retired by that June. But six years later, the Dufresnes learned that
DeSutter was saying mass at a church in Faribault, Minn. Flynn, responding
to an angry letter from Gerard Dufresne, replied that the priest had
completed counseling and was considered a safe candidate for weekend
substitute duties, but said even that ended in 1998.
St. Paul lawyer Jeffrey Anderson sued DeSutter in 1999 on behalf of Pierre
Dufresne, who was angry that DeSutter was allowed to continue serving as a
priest. The case was settled out of court, with Dufresne receiving payments
and, he said, the assurance from the archdiocese that DeSutter would not be
allowed to function as a priest in any church. DeSutter moved from
Minnesota to Arizona in the past few years. He said he is not working as a
priest.
He wasn't the only priest to return to the pulpit after allegations of
sexual abuse. Alan Michaud, 15, alleged that he was with a group of
Catholic Boy Scouts visiting the St. Paul Seminary in 1977 when the Rev.
Jerome C. Kern fondled him in a swimming pool.
Still, until February, when he took a medical disability retirement, Kern
was an associate pastor at St. Peter Catholic Church in Forest Lake. The
parish also runs a K-6 grade school. McDonough said he learned that the
archdiocese had a file on Kern dating to 1969, when the priest was accused
of fondling two boys from St. Paul.
In fact, Kern had been transferred from his St. Paul parish after
complaints to the archdiocese from the boys' mothers. Michaud sued. In a
settlement, he said, he was promised that Kern would never be in another
parish or around children. Kern, now 61, declined to discuss the
allegations when reached by telephone last week. The archdiocese kept the
Rev. Richard H. Jeub, 62, out of full-time parish work from 1990 to 1995
after he underwent therapy at a Maryland facility that treats priests for
sexual compulsions, but he is now back in the pulpit. Jeub has been the
associate pastor for the past few years at St. Rose of Lima Church in
Roseville.
One of the women who alleged misconduct is a health care professional from
Edina. She reached a settlement with Jeub, her parish and the archdiocese
over abuse she says occurred in 1969. The woman, whom the newspaper did not
name, said Jeub kissed her, touched her inappropriately and repeatedly made
remarks about her body when she was 15 and he was the associate pastor of
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Edina. In January 1970, Jeub was transferred to
a church in St. Paul. He could not be reached to comment.
Another local priest with lawsuits in his past was assigned to an
archdiocesan administrative position. The Rev. Joseph Wajda, the subject of
two suits in the late 1980s alleging abuse of teenage boys, is the judicial
vicar of the archdiocese's Metropolitan Tribunal. The tribunal exercises
judicial authority under church law to rule on matters such as annulments
of marriage. In the Catholic Spirit column, Flynn defended the decision to
retain Wajda and two other convicted priests, the Revs. Gilbert Gustafson
and Michael Stevens. Stevens works on the archdiocese's computer services
team. Gustafson does research and is an aide to archdiocesan
administrators, but it was his activity serving mass at a monastery in
Bloomington that drew media attention last week.
Michaud said he is unsympathetic to the church argument that by retaining
priests, it helped keep them from molesting again. "Isn't that what prisons
are for?" he said.
NYC
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/27/national/27MILW.html
May 27, 2002
Parishioners Hear Words of Comfort About Fallen Priest
By JOHN CARPENTER
MILWAUKEE, May 26 - Roman Catholics who came to Mass today at the Cathedral
of St. John the Evangelist looking to hear an apology from the embattled
and now retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland walked away disappointed.
Most, however, said they were comforted by the message delivered by another
priest, the Rev. Carl Last, who condemned sexual abuse and the paying of
"hush money" to cover it up, while at the same time trying to place the
current church crisis in the context of Christian love and forgiveness.
Archbishop Weakland's retirement was accepted by Pope John Paul II on
Friday, after it became known that a $450,000 payment had been made by the
archdiocese to a 54-year-old man who said that the archbishop had sexually
assaulted him 22 years ago. The archbishop, while acknowledging the payment
and a "confidentiality provision" in a settlement agreement between him and
his accuser, said in the written announcement of his retirement that he had
"never abused anyone." That announcement, released by the archdiocese, has
been the archbishop's only comment on the issue, and he has remained out of
the public eye. Many people, including those who consider themselves to be
friends of Archbishop Weakland, said they wanted to hear what he had to say
about the scandal.
Michael Fleet, a political science professor at nearby Marquette University
and a St. John's parishioner, said some aspects of the situation had
elevated Archbishop Weakland in his eyes. Professor Fleet, 60, pointed in
particular to a 1980 letter, made public last week, from the archbishop to
his accuser, Paul Marcoux. In the letter, which appears to be an effort by
Archbishop Weakland to end their relationship, the archbishop grapples with
the issues of sexuality and celibacy.
"I feel like the world's biggest hypocrite," the archbishop wrote. "So
gradually I came back to the importance of celibacy in my life - not just a
physical celibacy but the freedom the celibate commitment gives."
The archbishop "is the victim of a fall from grace," Professor Fleet said,
adding that he knew Mr. Marcoux and Archbishop Weakland at the time of
their relationship, though he did not know that the relationship was
intimate. He said he was troubled less by the relationship than by the paid
settlement. "You never get beyond a crisis of leadership if leadership
feels it is entitled to hush people up," Professor Fleet said. Father Last,
who celebrated the 8 a.m. Mass at St. John's, included a strongly worded
denunciation, referring to the scandal involving Archbishop Weakland and
the recent flurry of sexual abuse cases involving priests and boys. "Sexual
abuse in any form, especially of the young, is a terrible violation. And
cover-ups and payment of hush money make it worse. It must end, and end
now," Father Last said from the pulpit. "We must commit ourselves to
protect the children, to heal the victims, and to make the church a haven
of safety for all."
Father Last emphasized, however, that Catholics should not let anything
shake their faith, which he said was rooted in forgiveness and love.
Elizabeth Burgert, a 35-year-old parishioner, said she thought Father Last
had done an admirable job of addressing an issue that was on everyone's
mind and offering a spiritual message at the same time. "It was great that
he stayed focused on the Scripture," Ms. Burgert said. "But he was also
sensitive to our needs as a parish - our need for answers. We need to feel
that we can trust the church." Colette Kadrich, 62, still wears a white
veil at Mass, harking back to the days before the Second Vatican Council in
the 1960's. As Ms. Kadrich left the Mass she said that Father Last's
spiritual message was about all he could say under the circumstances. "Two
of the most important things in our faith are mercy and forgiveness," she
said.
Ron Kujawa, a 70-year-old parishioner, says he is troubled by the scandals
but considers them a crisis of leadership, not of faith or in the church
itself. "It is an institution led by certain people, and those people have
frailties," Mr. Kujawa said. "We have some problems within the leadership
of the church, but I see the church beginning to deal with it. Once it is
dealt with, we will move on." The next step in Milwaukee is the naming of a
permanent replacement for Archbishop Weakland, 75, who has been archbishop
for 25 years. After Archbishop Weakland's retirement was accepted, his
duties were assumed by Richard J. Sklba, an auxiliary bishop in the
archdiocese. It is not known when a new archbishop will be installed.
BOSTON
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/chur05272002.htm
Bishop pushes tough policy on pedophile priests
by Robin Washington
Monday, May 27, 2002
The Catholic Church's nascent national policy for handling clergy accused
of sex abuse could include the immediate turnover of allegations to
authorities and put violators on a fast-track out of the priesthood, a
bishop charged with drafting the rules said.
``Crimes should be reported to the appropriate authorities,'' said Bishop
Joseph Galante, co-adjutor of the Diocese of Dallas. The Dallas Diocese
will host the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on June 13 to develop the
new rules. A draft will be made public next week. Galante said a more
contentious issue is whether to expel past abusers, adding that if it were
up to him, he would defrock all priests proved of abuse. ``Anybody who's a
true pedophile, you don't even think about allowing to be in the ministry
or going back in the ministry,'' he said.
Victim advocates and attorneys welcomed the tougher measures, but warned
they were only a start. ``It shows something positive can come out of this
meeting,'' said Roderick MacLeish, an attorney with several sex abuse cases
against the Archdiocese of Boston. David Clohessy of the Survivors Network
of Those Abused by Priests, said the measure would be a move in the right
direction. ``It might be the most positive step the church could take if
indeed they follow through,'' he said. But, he added, ``I suspect and fear
that the bishops, having so long positioned themselves as investigator,
prosecutor, judge and jury, will find it very hard to relinquish those
roles to the professionals.'' Clohessy said the idea of immediately
defrocking molester priests would be less effective at curbing crime, and
could actually help shield abusers. ``If they are defrocked, the church
still has an obligation to keep them away from children,'' he said.
``There's a horrific case in St. Louis of a priest defrocked in 1977 who
the church lied about and said it was because of heresy. They sent him off
with two glowing letters of recommendation and he got a job at an
elementary school and molested again.'' Carmen Durso, another attorney
suing the church, shared that sentiment.
``I don't care if they defrock them. All I care about is that they get them
away from kids,'' he said, questioning what preponderance of evidence would
be necessary to earn the expulsion. ``What does (Galante) mean by
`proved'?'' he asked.
Durso said any policy imposed by the bishops or local clergy review boards,
such as the Boston's Blue Ribbon Committee, should include mandatory
reporting forms with multiple copies to several entities, including law
enforcement. In a recent statement, Bernard Cardinal Law blamed his failure
to catch pedophile priests on ``poor record keeping.'' ``We keep hearing
that somebody said something to somebody and that nobody did anything about
it,'' Durso said, suggesting allegations be filed in quadruplicate. ``It's
part of risk management. Food stores do this. Colleges. Hospitals. This is
so basic.''
Referring to the archdiocese's current system, Durso questioned the
accuracy of an article in the current edition of The Pilot, the
archdiocese's official newspaper.
The article defends Law's failure to remove the Rev. Paul R. Shanley from
contact with minors after several allegations against him. Shanley is
currently being held in Middlesex Jail on charges he raped Paul Busa of
Newton, now 24, when Busa was in CCD classes 18 years ago.
The article, entitled ``The `facts' of the Father Shanley documents,''
states that church officials knew of only one sexual abuse allegation
against Shanley before 1993. ``An allegation . . . was received by the
archdiocese in 1966 while (Shanley) was at St. Patrick Parish in
Stoneham,'' the article states. ``It was investigated by the parish's
pastor, Msgr. John Sexton. The conclusion . . . was that the claim could
not be proved. The allegation was dismissed.''
But Durso said he has seen nothing in the documents supporting that.
``Where is the piece of paper that investigated that?'' he asked, a
question echoed by MacLeish, the civil lawyer for Busa and his CCD
classmate, Gregory Ford. Though under court order MacLeish has received
more than 1,600 pages on Shanley, he said the missing dismissal letter
implies the archdiocese has failed to turn over all its Shanley files. ``If
they've got files indicating that these allegations have been investigated,
they certainly haven't given them to me,'' he said.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Morrissey said The Pilot editors wrote their
analysis from the same documents MacLeish has. ``They stand by their
story,'' she said.
At Sunday Mass at Holy Cross Cathedral celebrating the Trinity, Law steered
clear of mention of the scandal. ``The mystery of God's life, the mystery
of the Trinity, is beyond the grasp of human wisdom,'' he told a sparse
audience. Outside, a now-regular cadre of about three dozen protesters
called for his removal.
``It's a clique of organized crime. I think we need Eliot Ness to come in
here and clean house,'' said Cathy Costello of West Roxbury.
Some protesters were greeted by the Rev. Robert Carr, the cathedral's
parochial vicar, who leaned over a gate to speak with them. ``That's pretty
decent of him. We've been waiting a long time for the cardinal to come out
here,'' said regular protester Rick Webb of Wellesley. At the end of Mass,
a throng of media and police watched as protesters gathered at the
cathedral's back exit to taunt Law on his way out. Instead, he left by the
side, where a chancery car had been parked, unassumingly blocking the exit.
Herald wire services to this report. Robin Washington may be reached at
rwashington
CHICAGO
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0205270152may27.story?coll=chi%
2Dnewslocal%2Dhed
CHICAGO ARCHDIOCESE
2 priests removed in wake of new abuse allegations
May 27, 2002
Chicago Tribune
Two priests, including the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago's former vicar
of administration, have been removed from their duties because of
allegations of sexual misconduct 25 and 45 years ago, an archdiocese
official said Sunday. The priests were identified as Rev. R. Peter Bowman,
73, who retired in March 2001 as the vicar for administration and moderator
of the Curia, and Rev. Donald J. Mulsoff, 58, who was serving as associate
pastor at St. Celestine Church, 3020 N. 76th Ct., Elmwood Park.
Bowman was in residence at St. Teresa of Avila parish, 1037 W. Armitage Ave.
James Dwyer, archdiocese spokesman, said both cases were reviewed by an
independent review board and referred to the Cook County state's attorney's
office. "In both cases, somebody came to us reporting the allegations,"
Dwyer said. Mulsoff is accused of sexual misconduct more than 25 years ago
with minors at St. Catherine of Alexandra parish in Oak Lawn and at Mary,
Queen of Heaven parish in Cicero. Bowman is accused of sexual misconduct
with a minor more than 45 years ago when he was an associate pastor at St.
Denis parish on the Southwest Side, Dwyer said. "Both cases are so old that
I don't know if they are prosecutable," Dwyer said.
copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
B.C. NEWFOUNDLAND
http://www.canada.com/victoria/news/story.asp?id={A850D812-C22B-4043-ACA1-52
E1C74E37A1}
Tony Vancouver private schools may close to pay for Mount Cashel abuse
compensation
Times Colonist (Victoria)
Monday, May 27, 2002
File / Victims of pedophiles who ran the Mount Cashel orphanage in St.
John's, Nfld., shown in this 1989 photo, are seeking compensation for their
abuse. Two Vancouver private schools may pay the price.
VANCOUVER (CP) -- The contrasts could hardly be more striking. On the East
coast there once existed the infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage, a stern,
cold, now-demolished edifice in St. John's and scene of widespread physical
and sexual abuse against boys by members of the Christian Brothers of
Ireland in Canada. On the West coast are two private schools -- one in the
most affluent section of the city -- that educate bright children of
moneyed parents. In posh Shaughnessy sits Vancouver College and its huge
property; the other, St. Thomas More Collegiate, is in nearby Burnaby.
Soon, the uniformed students and well-to-do parents of the two Catholic
schools may find their institutions shut, too, to pay compensation to the
more than 90 victims of Mount Cashel. Vancouver College opened in 1927
while St. Thomas More Collegiate opened in 1960. Together they are worth
about $38 million. The liquidator, Arthur Andersen Inc., has been after the
Catholic order's assets for more than six years, starting first with court
battles in Ontario and then moving to British Columbia to try to seize the
two schools' assets here. So far, the liquidator has been winning most of
the battles and the latest victory came late last week when the Supreme
Court of Canada denied the schools' request to appeal an unfavourable B.C.
Court of Appeal ruling.
The liquidator warned students' parents that the schools will be shut by
the end of the school year. But now the British Columbia government has got
involved. The province plans to seek an injunction today to stop the sale
of the schools until its case is heard in July. The Christian Brothers owe
$67 million in lawsuits filed against 10 members who abused young boys at
the Newfoundland orphanage. But while many lawyers earn plentiful fees
battling over the assets of the two schools, victims in the East and
students in the West get caught in the judicial crossfire.
"I would have gladly walked away years ago had the Christian Brothers just
apologized and admitted what transpired," said J.J. Byrne, an abuse victim
and spokesman for other victims. "But for the hell they put me through . .
. . " he said, without finishing the sentence. Byrne, now 58, and a
resident of St. John's, said there are times "when you think you're never
going to see any money." After the Supreme Court ruling last week, Byrne
said he got calls from other victims. "They were elated that the Supreme
Court again re-affirmed the fact the property should be used to compensate
the victims." St. John's lawyer Bob Buckingham, who represents another
group of Mount Cashel victims, describes the latest court decision as one
that may come at too great a cost to the victor. "It's a pyrhhic victory
until they see something concrete, until they actually see that the money
is going to be in the hands of the liquidator or whoever is going to divvy
it up," said Buckingham.
Ideally, Buckingham said the average settlement -- if the litigation ever
ends -- would be about $300,000 for each of the victims who are now spread
across the country.
"They always wonder if they're going to get any money," he said. Across the
country at Vancouver College, two high school students took a break in the
expansive courtyard surrounded by the college's gym, classrooms, and
Christian Brothers residence.
They declined to give their names and didn't pretend to understand
"specific purpose charitable trusts," "beneficial owners" and the other
complex legalese of the various court decisions. But losing their school
doesn't seem like justice.
"I've been here five years and I want to graduate and I don't want to think
that it's all a waste," said one. The other is trying to reconcile the
distance and time of Mount Cashel with his current situation. "The victims
of the Christian Brothers want reparation but where's the justice in
hurting 2,000 lives and more (at the Vancouver schools) in helping rebuild
other lives?"
Byrne and Buckingham also sympathize with the plight of students and
parents thousands of kilometres away, but are still able to justify the
possible closures. Byrne said the "ideal situation" would have been for the
Christian Brothers order or the Vancouver students' parents or the Catholic
Church to pay the compensation and keep the schools open. "The Christian
Brothers are not on the poverty list and the Catholic Church is not running
to the food banks," he said.
Buckingham can't help but point out the contrasts of the students at Mount
Cashel and the two schools here. "My clients understand the position of the
students and parents (in Vancouver)," he said. "My clients understand that
the students and parents out there are (in schools that) are private, elite
schools. But Buckingham's clients "were victims of an orphanage where they
were fair picking for these pedophiles." "When they were caught and moved
around to various places, some of the places they were moved was out West."
His clients, he said, understand that "it was all part of the circle and
they think it should be included in the pie."
Byrne said his fellow victims are also aware the B.C. government is going
back to court this week. Buckingham described it as "grasping at straws."