Tag: catholic church

Three High Ranking Priests Step Down From Leadership Roles in W.Va. Following Investigation

Three priests have resigned from their high-ranking positions in West Virginia, according to a press release from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. 

The latest news from the Catholic Church in West Virginia follows an ongoing church investigation, which found that high ranking priests enabled predatory and harassing conduct by Former Bishop Michael Bransfield. Bransfield has denied wrongdoing.  

Archbishop William Lori announced the resignations on Monday, saying monsignors under Bransfield’s command enabled misconduct and misspending. Monsignors Frederick Annie, Anthony Cincinnati, and Kevin Quirk will step down from their leadership roles, but remain priests. According to the press release, Quirk is also stepping down from his position on the Board of Directors at Wheeling Jesuit University and Wheeling Hospital.

Lori says the following personnel changes are effective immediately:

Father James DeViese Jr., J.C.L., will assume the responsibilities of the Judicial Vicar on an interim basis and oversee the Office of the Tribunal, while continuing in his role as Pastor of St. Patrick (Weston) and St. Boniface (Camden) Parishes and Good Shepherd Mission in Glenville.

Monsignor Joseph Peterson, currently Pastor of St. Michael Parish in Wheeling, will serve as Interim Rector of St. Joseph Cathedral and Reverend Carlos Melocoton Jr. will serve as Pastor of St. Michael.

Fr. Dennis Schuelkens will serve as Interim Director of Clergy Personnel while continuing as Pastor of St. Joseph the Worker and Sacred Heart Parishes in Weirton. 

Mr. Lawrence Bandi, President of Central Catholic High School in Wheeling will serve as the Archbishop’s representative to Wheeling Hospital. The Archbishop will soon appoint his representative to Wheeling Jesuit University. 

“I am grateful to all of these individuals and to my brother priests for their hard work and dedicated service to the Church, especially in these challenging times,” Archbishop Lori said.

Archbishop Didn't Tell Vatican Whole Story on Fallen W.Va. Bishop

The bishop appointed by the Vatican to investigate the former leader of the Roman Catholic Church in West Virginia now has his own explaining to do.

Archbishop William Lori oversaw a probe of alleged sexual and financial misconduct by Bishop Michael Bransfield, who has denied wrongdoing. His team’s confidential findings in February prompted Bransfield’s ouster.

What Lori didn’t say in his final report to the Vatican in March is that he himself is among high-ranking clergy who accepted cash gifts from Bransfield.

The Washington Post reported that before and after versions of the still-secret report show names of Lori and others removed.

With the Post asking questions, Lori’s revealed some more details in a letter Wednesday, and followed up Friday with a video saying redacting the names was a mistake.

W.Va. Catholic Diocese Releases More Accused Priests' Names

West Virginia’s only Roman Catholic diocese has released the names of two more priests who it says have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse in the state.

The priests are accused of committing the abuse while working at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Both are deceased.

One of them, the Rev. Raymond Waldruff, previously was accused of abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1960s. Complaints of decades-old abuse were made against him in March in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and in April in the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky.

Waldruff served at two churches in north-central West Virginia in the 1970s.

The other priest, the Rev. Andrew F. Lukas, was accusing of abusing a minor in the 1960s. The allegation was reported to the diocese in January.

Eight other priests added to the latest list had claims against them in other regions or dioceses but not in West Virginia. None are in active ministry.

The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register first reported on the updated list, which brings to 40 the number of accused priests or deacons who served in West Virginia.

The diocese posted the list on its website last week. The original list was posted in November.

Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston spokesman Tim Bishop said in a statement Tuesday that the updated list shows “the Diocese’s commitment to transparency and accountability.”

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit in March accusing the diocese and former Bishop Michael Bransfield of knowingly employing pedophiles and failing to conduct adequate background checks on camp and school workers.

Morrisey said in a statement that the diocese quietly updated the original listing without immediately trumpeting its release.

“If the Diocese truly sought closure and healing for victims, it would make good on its obligation to announce updates to its findings so those victimized would feel empowered to seek counseling and know they are not alone,” Morrisey said.

Instead, “the Diocese appears fixated upon its goal of minimizing this scandal with limited publicity about wrongdoing and maximum publicity of its public relations campaign to protect the Church.”

Amended Sex Abuse Suit Filed Against W.Va. Catholic Diocese

West Virginia’s Roman Catholic diocese failed to publicly disclose decade-old allegations of sexual abuse of a student involving a Catholic school teacher, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday, May 21.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced an amended lawsuit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and former Bishop Michael Bransfield.

A diocese spokesman didn’t immediately comment on the complaint. It accuses the diocese of keeping secret a 2006 report on sexual abuse allegations involving a teacher in Kanawha County.

Morrisey said an internal investigation alleged the teacher used alcohol and prescription drugs to gain a teenage student’s trust before multiple incidents of abuses occurred.

Like the original suit, the amended complaint cited the state Consumer Credit and Protection Act, accusing the diocese of “unfair competition” over other schools when it advertised for prospective students to join its schools and camp without disclosing the employment of accused priests.

The amended complaint alleges Bransfield was personally advised that more than 20 background checks were not done at a Catholic elementary school in Charleston between 2007 and 2008.

Morrisey’s original lawsuit filed in March accused the diocese and Bransfield of a cover-up, adding the diocese didn’t conduct background checks on admitted abusers and priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Attorneys for the diocese and Bransfield filed a motion last month to dismiss the lawsuit.

On Tuesday the diocese said in a statement that some of the allegations in the amended lawsuit weren’t accurately described.

“In the strongest terms, we deny the allegation that initial background checks were not conducted on school employees, as the amended complaint contends,” the diocese said.

In one decades-old instance cited in the original lawsuit, Rev. Victor Frobas, who was forced out of the Philadelphia seminary system because of a credible accusation of child sexual abuse, was made the director of a summer youth camp owned by the diocese. Frobas was then accused of sexually abusing children at that post and, following a leave of absence, was later assigned to work as a chaplain at Wheeling Central Catholic High School, the lawsuit said.

Frobas was convicted in 1988 of molesting two boys at a parish in suburban St. Louis. He served more than two years in prison and died in 1993.

In November the West Virginia diocese released the names of 18 priests or deacons who it said had been credibly accused of child sexual abuse since 1950, including 11 who had since died. None of the others are in active ministry.

Bransfield resigned last year and the Vatican appointed Baltimore Archbishop William Lori to take over the Wheeling-Charleston diocese. Bransfield had been implicated in a 2012 case against Philadelphia priests accused of sexual abuse, but he denied abusing anyone.

Catholic Church officials in March imposed ministerial restrictions on Bransfield pending the Holy See’s final assessment on the investigation into the claims in West Virginia.

“There are many, many wonderful people in the church. I know many of them. I’m a practicing Catholic,” Morrisey said at a news conference in Wheeling. “And I can say to you that a lot of people have been deeply disturbed by the activities and the cover-up here. The most important thing everyone can do now is to come clean, to be transparent, acknowledge the mistakes and move forward.”

Diocese Releases Names of Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse

West Virginia’s Roman Catholic archdiocese released the names Thursday of priests or deacons who it said have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse since 1950.

Eleven of the 18 accused clergy are deceased, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said in a news release. None of the others are in active ministry.

The clergymen were named by the church’s local district in a document summarizing the complaints.

More than 2,000 files containing tens of thousands of documents were reviewed. The diocese hopes the release “will be one of many steps taken to restore trust with parishioners and the broader community in West Virginia,” Wheeling-Charleston Archbishop William Lori said.

The list included brief descriptions of accusations included inappropriate touching, abuse or solicitation.

One of the accused priests, the Rev. Felix Owino, was deported to Africa following his 2010 conviction in northern Virginia of aggravated sexual battery of a girl. Owino had served as an associate pastor at a Catholic church in Weirton and also taught at Wheeling Jesuit University.

The case of Brother Rogers Hannan, who served at two parishes in McDowell County, was referred to a prosecutor. He was convicted and sentenced in 2014 to up to 10 years in prison for solicitation of a minor.

The Rev. Victor Frobas, who served at multiple West Virginia parishes, was convicted in 1988 of molesting two boys at a parish in suburban St. Louis. He served more than two years in prison and died in 1993.

The Rev. Paul J. Schwarten, who served at parishes in Weston, Ronceverte and White Sulphur Springs more than a half century ago, served 18 months in prison for inappropriately touching a minor in Nebraska. He died in 1993.

Also released is a list of 13 accused priests from other regions or dioceses who served in West Virginia but had no claims filed against them with the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

The list was released two months after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield and authorized an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults.

“This list undoubtedly reveals the failings of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to fully protect young people within the Church,” Lori said. “Rightly, many have a cause for anger and pain. I offer my sincerest apologies to all victims of sexual abuse and vow to strive to take proper action to ensure the safety of children and others in our care.”

A sexual abuse hotline created through the Diocese can be reached at 1-833-230-5656.

 

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