Priest treatment centers operate quietly, but fears grow
khjarvis
DITTMER, Mo. — The treatment road for some priests caught up in the Catholic
Church's sex abuse scandal ends at one of two wooded retreats in eastern
Missouri.
The retreats are seen nationally by therapists and church officials as
places to send troubled priests for supervision and long-term residency. Yet
they are unknown to some neighbors and of pointed concern to people who want
to keep track of abusive clergy.
On Thursday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called on the
Archdiocese of St. Louis to release information about priests at the
retreats. But the archdiocese does not run the retreats, about 40 miles
southwest of St. Louis, or know who is there, a spokesman said.
Thirty-three priests stay at the retreats. Six are on convicted sex offender
lists kept by local sheriffs. At least four others admitted molesting minors
but were not prosecuted because the abuses occurred too long ago.
Citing confidentiality concerns, retreat operators would not discuss
residents who are there because they committed sex crimes.
“The best thing to do is let this be an extended retreat program and to
respect the anonymity of the men who live here,” said Bertin Miller, a
Franciscan priest who directs Recon, one of the two retreats.
Several signs at Recon's entrance along a country road declare the land
“private” and warn that trespassers will be prosecuted.
But interest in the priests at Recon and the nearby Vianney Renewal Center
has escalated since the arrest last month of a Recon resident for receiving
child pornography in the mail.
“I think we should know who is in there, how many molesters,” said Barbara
Dorris of the St. Louis chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests. “We should be aware of the terms. Are they under court
jurisdiction? Civil settlements with families? Are they supervised?”
Finding out who is at the retreats would require researching offender lists,
court files or newspaper accounts of priests sent there. Even that might not
account for priests whose cases were not publicly acknowledged.
“You might take those steps if you know the facilities are there, but I
suspect many people have no clue,'' David Clohessy of St. Louis, national
director of the survivors group, said Thursday.
Some of the centers' clients are also there for alcoholism, depression and
other emotional ills.
Vianney is run by a male religious order called the Servants of the
Paraclete. A full-time psychologist is on staff.
Priests at the retreat stroll the wooded grounds, pray at the retreat's
chapel and often openly repent their sins against youth, said Peter Lechner,
servant general of the Paracletes, who oversees Vianney.
“A number of the men feel this is their vocation now, to make reparation for
the harm they caused,” Lechner said. “There is one man who, when he
celebrates Mass, is close to tears every time.”
While therapy is a significant purpose of Vianney, priests at Recon — also
known as the Wounded Brothers Project — are there mainly to live, not to be
treated, Miller said. Therapy for sex abusers would have to come from
outside counselors, he said.
Priests at the two retreats come from all over the country. Some of their
abuses resulted in multimillion-dollar diocese settlements with victims.
Their living costs are covered by dioceses, personal funds, or sometimes
taxpayers if the priests were sentenced to be there. None of the priests
confirmed to have abused minors will be allowed to return to the active
priesthood.
There are only a handful of residential centers in the United States
specializing in sexually abusive priests, experts said. The two in Missouri,
isolated and offering extended supervision, are considered the most secure,
although residents are not locked in at night. There are no such centers in
Kansas.
Members of the abuse survivors' group have a growing interest in what the
Catholic Church knows about the two retreats and who lives there, Clohessy
said.
“Church leaders have repeatedly promised to be more open about abuse. This
is a perfect place to start,'' he said.
The two retreats on Thursday provided the archdiocese with summaries of
their operations, but the priests there are not affiliated with the
archdiocese, said spokesman Jim Orso.
“These are not people who have any privileges to be ministers or say Mass or
anything, so it's not our business,'' Orso said.
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph sent priests to other
treatment centers in the early 1990s but has not sent any to Vianney or
Recon, Vicar General Patrick Rush said.
Vianney and Recon are surrounded by farms, woods and other sparsely
populated land. Vianney is just a mile off a state highway, which is also a
school bus route and has numerous small businesses.
Interviews with several store clerks, a cafe owner and other people along
the highway revealed no worries about the two retreats. Some people did not
know they were there.
Last year, Lechner said, he invited neighboring residents and business
owners to a meeting in St. Louis to answer questions about Vianney, but few
people attended.
“They have never raised objections to us or complained,” Lechner said.
He said residents with sex abuse histories cannot leave the grounds without
supervision. At Recon, Miller said, priests' privileges to leave the grounds
depend on orders from their dioceses, counselors or court supervisors. The
retreat has existed for 10 years.
But Recon is not without controversy.
In August, the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole rejected the state of
Nevada's request to have Mark Roberts, a priest who pleaded guilty to lewd
and abusive behavior with minors, serve time at Recon.
The survivors' group objected to placing Roberts at Recon because one of his
victims had moved to the St. Louis area and was concerned that Roberts might
look him up.
Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in St. Louis indicted former
Wisconsin priest David J. Malsch on charges he received six pornographic
images of children in the mail at Recon.
“That says to me, no one is paying attention,” Dorris said.
Malsch was sentenced in 1993 for sexually molesting boys and ended up at
Recon, at a cost to Wisconsin taxpayers of $2,800, according to the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Miller said the pornography charges against Malsch were upsetting to
residents and staff and that Malsch had moved out at Recon's request. Miller
said mail is hard to control.
“We are not authorized in any way to intercept mail,” he said.
Lechner said he knew of no incidents since Vianney opened in 1988 in which a
priest living there was accused of trying to abuse a minor. Three years ago,
the Servants of the Paraclete closed down a treatment center in New Mexico
because of publicity about priests who abused minors off the property.
Lechner said the isolation of Vianney and the supervision of priests so they
don't have contact with youth are parts of their therapy.
“If a person is attracted to minors and has experienced that attraction for
many years, it's not likely that will change,” said Lechner, who is also a
psychologist. “The goal is to help them with a style of life where they will
simply not act out with minors.”
Pat Barker
> interest in the priests at Recon and the nearby Vianney Renewal Center
> has escalated since the arrest last month of a Recon resident for
receiving
> child pornography in the mail.
> Paraclete. A full-time psychologist is on staff.
>
> specializing in sexually abusive priests, experts said. The two in
Missouri,
> isolated and offering extended supervision, are considered the most
secure,
> although residents are not locked in at night. There are no such centers
in
> Kansas.
+ karen.....
+ I thought you were trying to find out about retreats and counselling
centers set up for abusive priests.
+ You have two right here.
Patrick
khjarvis
"Pat Barker" <bark...@erinet.com> wrote
> + karen.....
> + I lied..........
+ You stated Cardinal Law "set up clinics for the *CURE* of pedophilia."
+ Names and addresses of these "clinics" please.
--
Karen
"+ You are here to bash the bishop."
Patrick Raymond Barker 11/11/2003
Carla Fitz
Pedophiles are psychopaths. Therapy doesn't work with psychopaths—ever.
Jail them till death.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a
religious conviction.
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
Pat Barker
> + You stated Cardinal Law "set up clinics for the *CURE* of pedophilia."
+ Did I?
dvs519
wrote:
>"khjarvis" <nospam@ever> wrote
>> + You stated Cardinal Law "set up clinics for the *CURE* of pedophilia."
>
>+ Did I?
>
+ You have been dismissed for failing to follow the duties of the Hall
Monitor.
==========================
Dave by the Beach
Southern California