Jesuits: Child sex abuse claim 'credible' against former Missoula, Mt, pastor
Seaborn Larson
st. francis xavier church
A former Jesuit pastor at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Missoula has been permanently removed from ministry after officials in the church’s province found claims that he sexually abused a minor girl 40 years ago to be credible, according to a statement from the province.
The Rev. Rich Perry will remain at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in California and live under a safety plan, according to the statement provided to the Missoulian. The statement offers no additional information about the alleged abuse in Seattle. Perry's name and a timeline of his assignments have been added to a publicly available online list of Jesuits with credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.
Perry was sent to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos in October 2019 on a separate matter, after a woman came forward with a claim of “inappropriate contact.” St. Francis Xavier Rev. Joseph Carver said then that Perry had admitted to the misconduct. While the province’s investigation was underway, a woman leveled a second claim, alleging he had sexually abused her in “the late 1970s/early 1980s” while she was a student at Seattle Preparatory School.
The Rev. Craig Hightower, pastor at St. Francis Xavier in Missoula, said Monday he was not able to comment on matters regarding Perry, but directed the Missoulian to an additional letter from the Diocese of Helena. In the letter, which is also available online, Bishop Austin A. Vetter addressed the credible claim against Perry.
"Abuse of anyone is a horrific act and repugnant to the humble and holy service that Christ calls his priests to live out each day. My heart goes out to victims who suffer the pain and trauma of abuse, and certainly my prayers," Vetter said.
In the Missoulian's initial reporting on the "inappropriate contact" claim against Perry, Carver said Perry had told St. Francis Xavier officials the allegation was accurate. At the time, a spokeswoman from the Jesuits West province disputed the notion, saying Perry had not admitted guilt. Carver is no longer the pastor at St. Francis Xavier. The Missoulian was not able to find a phone number for Carver on Monday.
The allegation from Perry's time in Seattle was brought to the church in February, according to the statement from Tracey Primrose, a spokesperson for the Jesuits West province. The allegation touched off an investigation by "professionals" hired by the province, Primrose wrote, which is then presented to an independent Province Review board to make a recommendation to the Rev. Scott Santarosa, the provincial of the Jesuits West province. In Primrose's July 23 letter, she stated that within the last week, Santarosa found the claim from the Seattle woman against Perry to be credible.
As a result, Perry has been permanently removed from public ministry and will live under the safety plan at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, an infirmary and retirement facility where approximately 80 Jesuits live, Primrose wrote. Sacred Heart Jesuit Center also is the community where men who have credible claims of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults are sent to live on safety plans, according to the letter. Safety plans are crafted to reduce risks and typically include intervention programs, restrictions from technology and travel, and other methods.
The province made its parishioners aware of the Seattle claim because it is a credible claim of abuse against a minor, but the Jesuits West will not be issuing any further information about the allegation from Missoula, Primrose wrote.
"The claim involving a boundary violation with an adult stemming from Fr. Perry's time at St. Francis Xavier in Missoula was investigated, reviewed and addressed," she wrote. "Because the case involves an adult and not a minor, Province privacy policies prevent additional release of information regarding that case.
"On behalf of the Jesuits West Province, Fr. Santarosa has apologized publicly to those 'who put their trust in a Jesuit, only to have that trust so profoundly betrayed,'" Primrose wrote.
Perry's name makes 12 Jesuits on the West province's list of those accused of sexual abuse — credibly, as deemed by a review board within the church — who have served in Missoula, at either St. Francis Xavier or Loyola High School.
Nine were accused of abuse at a parish outside Missoula, although five of those Jesuits served the parish here in the years after the alleged abuse. Two Jesuits were accused of abuse during the years they were assigned to parishes in Missoula. Joseph Balfe was with St. Francis Xavier Church from 1936 to 1937 while allegedly abusing a minor sometime between 1934 and 1940. Bernard Harris served at Loyola High School from 1953 through 1972 and was accused of sexually abusing a minors from 1958 to 1962, from 1962 to 1966, from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1971 to 1972.
Joseph Obersinner, who died in 2018, appears on the list and was assigned from St. Francis Xavier from 1990 to 1991, although the allegation against him is not listed, nor is the year of the alleged misconduct.
Anyone who may have been victimized by a Jesuit is asked to contact Jesuits West Advocacy Coordinator Mary Pat Panighetti at mppanighetti@jesuits.org or 408-893-8398, as well as the appropriate law enforcement and child-protective agencies.
Pastor of St. Pancras Church, LI, Charged With Sharing Sexually Explicit Photos With Minor
Alison Kase
The FBI has arrested a priest from Glendale in connection with child pornography – charged with one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Father Francis Hughes 65, the pastor of St. Pancras Church in Glendale since 2015, was arrested after charges of sharing sexually explicit texts and pictures with a 15-year-old boy, federal prosecutors announced on July 29.
According to federal investigators, Fr. Hughes also allegedly knew that the boy was underage and tried to meet the teen for sex.
During his interview Fr. Hughes admitted to federal investigators to additional crimes and there are other victims of his sexual behavior. Therefore, the FBI took the unusual step in releasing the pastor’s identity in hopes of other victims stepping forward.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director-in-charge of the New York office of the FBI announced the arrest on July 29.
In a statement, Strauss said, “The allegations against Francis Hughes are chilling and frightening to any parent. A person who, by the nature of his profession, is presumed to be trustworthy allegedly victimized a child. Thanks to the FBI, Hughes now faces a serious federal charge,” Strauss said in a statement.
According to the Complaint filed yesterday in White Plains federal court, Fr. Hughes communicated with a 15-year old boy on Feb 16 of this year using elicit photos and sexual language.
Fr. Hughes will appear in federal court in White Plains – the charge which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The Diocese of Brooklyn released a brief statement immediately following the news of the arrest. “The pastor has been removed from his post at St. Pancras,” the statement read.
The Diocese of Brooklyn has several protocols and systems in place to combat sexual abuse within the church and to protect victims, including a no-tolerance policy.
Apparently, they are not working so well!
The diocese’s confidential reporting line connects directly to law enforcement authorities. Victims are encouraged to report a crime no matter when the alleged abuse occurred. The number is 888-634-4499.
Survivors of childhood sex abuse grill Buffalo Bishop Scharfenberger
Heart-breaking story of the cost of child sex abuse - 40 years later
Jay Tokasz Buffalo News
Edward Scharfenberger, the bishop of Albany, is running the Buffalo Diocese temporarily until a permanent replacement is found.
Kevin Brun, a member of the committee representing childhood survivors of sex abuse in Buffalo Diocese bankruptcy proceedings, told Bishop Edward Scharfenberger on Wednesday that his son killed himself within 24 hours of reading Brun’s letter of being abused by a priest more than 40 years ago.
Brun gave Scharfenberger a heart-wrenching account of losing his son Patrick, 21, on Easter Sunday in 2019, saying he wanted the bishop and the diocese’s lawyers to understand his level of commitment to making sure victims of abuse get a measure of justice in the bankruptcy.
The virtual meeting on Wednesday marked the first time since the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that Child Victims Act plaintiffs and their lawyers were able to question Scharfenberger, who replaced retiring Bishop Richard Malone as head of the Buffalo Diocese on Dec. 4, directly about diocese operations and other issues.
Brun, after explaining the painful circumstances around his son’s death, asked the bishop whether he would release secret documents on sexual abuse by priests.
Scharfenberger responded by saying “there’s nothing I will not do in order to be of assistance in maintaining, in encouraging full accountability by everyone for their actions.”
“As far as the release of files, as I have said before, I will continue to say again, I will be very, very happy at any point to share whatever information I have access to, with anyone that needs that access in order to find some sort of knowledge or information they need in their own cases,” he said.
Scharfenberger did not comment on the death of Brun’s son.
After the meeting, Brun said the bishop’s lack of acknowledgment was more evidence of the diocese’s callous treatment of childhood abuse survivors.
“I didn’t even get an ‘I’m sorry’ from him,” Brun said. “That speaks to how much they say they care about healing and doing the right thing for survivors, and what they actually do is the complete opposite. I was quite upset by it. I was going to say something, but I felt decorum should prevail and I didn’t want to fly off the handle.”
Brun also asked Scharfenberger whether he would move to take away the pensions of priests who have been accused of abuse. Scharfenberger said he wasn’t sure he could legally do that, and Stephen Donato, a lawyer for the diocese, noted that a separate legal entity runs the pension plan for clergy.
“It’s not the diocese that actually makes a pension payment,” Donato said. “It’s not the diocese that controls that decision.”
Scharfenberger also said even if he could remove a priest’s pension, “then where do they go?”
“Many people in the helping professions are very concerned about the propensity for individuals like that to do harm, not only to themselves, but to others, if they have no form of support,” he said. “I have to be honest, I feel a certain sense of responsibility over these people, because if I don’t exercise that type of responsibility, who will?”
Brun wasn’t satisfied with the diocese’s response.
“Where do they go? My response is, ‘I lost my son. Where am I supposed to go?’ I’ve gone on with my life. I’ve gone forward. And my suggestion to these priests, and I use that term loosely, is you need to find a way to go on,” he said.
Brun, a West Seneca resident, filed a Child Victims Act lawsuit against the diocese last September, accusing the Rev. Arthur J. Smith of molesting him in a hotel room when he was 16 on a field trip to Washington D.C. Brun filed his lawsuit anonymously. He agreed to be identified by name in this story because he said he has nothing to hide anymore.
“They can’t take anything away from me anymore. Everything that was precious to me has been taken already,” he said.
In an interview with The News, a tearful Brun said he never wanted his sons to know what happened to him.
In a burst of spring cleaning last year, Brun accidentally left a letter he wrote to the Buffalo Diocese out in the open, and his youngest son, Patrick, read it. The letter was Brun’s graphic account of the abuse, an experience that continues to haunt him.
Brun said he remembers his son telling him, “Don’t worry, dad, we’re going to get justice for you, as a family.”
But the next day, Brun received only more heartache. Police knocked on his door and told him that Patrick had died by suicide.
Brun said his therapist told him his son’s seeing the letter might have been a contributing factor to the suicide, but Patrick probably had been dealing with undiagnosed depression and anxiety, he said.
Brun can’t shake the feeling that Patrick’s death was his fault. “If he never saw that letter, I think he’d still be with us. I can’t change that now,” he said.
Patrick, he said, was just getting started on a career as a corrections officer. “I was a corrections officer, and he was following in my footsteps,” said Brun. “He was loved by many people, and I still miss him every day.”
In March, when Brun was seeking to be appointed to the official committee of unsecured creditors, he told U.S. Trustee William Harrington that he had been searching for a purpose in his life since Patrick died.
“My allegiance is to the survivors and acting as a fiduciary for them. I could care less about what priests that don’t have any money to live on do, or what Bishop Scharfenberger’s point of view is,” he said. “I’m on the committee to fight for survivors and what’s right for them.”
And God bless you in your efforts. This is such a heart-breaking story. People, please pray for Kevin and his family.
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