By Jay Tokasz
The Buffalo News
August 25, 2007
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/148270.html
The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is being accused of overlooking inappropriate behavior and sexual advances by a middle school teacher who later was convicted of possessing child pornography and endangering the welfare of a child.
Just months after the Catholic bishops enacted a tougher policy in 2002 to deal with child sexual abusers, numerous complaints were made by pupils, parents and a teacher to the school principal about Christian M. Butler, who taught computer classes at St. Dominic Savio Middle School in Niagara Falls. But the complaints fell on deaf ears, the parents and a former teacher say.
Butler did not leave the school until 2004, shortly before he was charged with using his school computer to download child pornography, placing his hand on a girl's thigh under her dress and making lewd comments to another girl. Police said they learned about Butler through an anonymous phone call, not from the diocese.
"My daughter said it well: 'We were living with a predator in the school for two years, and no one did anything,' " said Remi Gonzalez, the father of one of the girls.
Butler was convicted, served a jail term and was placed on probation. But Wednesday, Butler, now 40, was sentenced to up to four years in prison for violating the terms of his probation.
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| Remi Gonzalez says his daughter was subjected to inappropriate comments while attending St. Dominic Savio Middle School. Photo by Sam Kolich |
Parents and a former teacher at the school contend that the diocese was warned about Butler as far back as the fall of 2002, the year the middle school opened.
A few months earlier, in June, the U.S. bishops had adopted strict guidelines for handling abuse complaints, and they pledged greater openness in dealing with a nationwide clergy abuse scandal.
But the Buffalo diocese never followed through on the new policy, said Gonzalez, who said he has hired a lawyer and plans to sue the diocese.
Diocese position
Diocesan officials disputed the notion that they didn't act immediately.
"The Diocese of Buffalo has had a policy regarding sexual harassment and abuse in place since 1990," spokesman Kevin A. Keenan said. "This policy was updated in 2002 following the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. In the case of Christian Butler, as soon as the diocese was notified of the allegations against him, the diocese followed this policy."
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| Parents, teacher say Catholic officials were warned about Christian M. Butler |
Three girls came forward with complaints about Butler, according to parents and police reports.
They included Gonzalez's daughter, a pupil at the middle school from 2002 to 2005, who, her father said, had been subjected to inappropriate comments and innuendo by Butler.
A second girl alleged that Butler made sexually suggestive comments about her. In January 2003, the girl's father confronted Butler about his remarks at the school, in the presence of Patricia Muscatello, the principal, according to police reports.
Later that year, Butler came up to girls from behind and hugged them, according to a third pupil's account to police.
The girl, who was 12 at the time, described working at a computer next to Butler.
"As I started to do this, I felt Mr. Butler put his left hand on my thigh. I was wearing my plaid pleated school uniform skirt. I looked at his hand, and he started to inch his hand up my skirt. I asked him to move his hand, but he didn't," the girl said. "The palm of his hand was going up first. His hand went from the middle of my thigh up a couple of inches, and that is when I stood up and walked to another computer."
After the class, the girl told the principal, who assured her "to come to her" if it happened again and "she would get rid of him," the girl said.
The girl, who is now in high school, suffered from depression and anxiety stemming from several similar encounters with Butler and the lack of response by the school, according to family members and friends.
"I know she went to the principal," said the girl's grandmother and guardian, who requested anonymity to protect her granddaughter. "For whatever reason, there was no acting on the complaints. Everything was swept under the rug."
Butler, who had also coached girls soccer at Niagara Catholic High School, was placed on leave from the school on June 4, 2004, as the diocese conducted an internal investigation.
Diocesan policy requires that the chancery contact the district attorney about any allegations of child abuse or sexual abuse.
But Niagara Falls Police did not become aware allegations against Butler until a detective received an anonymous call June 10 — nearly a week later. That same day, the state's Child Protective Services hotline referred a similar call to Niagara Falls police, according to police reports. Butler was arrested on June 29, 2004.
Teacher also saw
Virginia Abbott, who taught Spanish at the school, said she repeatedly reported Butler's behavior to Muscatello.
"Oh, Christian wouldn't hurt anybody," Abbott recounted Muscatello saying in response. "She would just laugh it off."
The computers in Butler's room were filled with pornographic images that popped onto the screens when children signed on, Abbott said.
Abbott's classes were held immediately after Butler's, and girls often explained to her their discomfort in Butler's classroom, she said.
"First one, and then a whole class. It was constant. They used to call him 'Mr. Perv' and say, 'He's a pervert,' " recalled Abbott.
Abbott resigned June 2, 2004, because she said school officials refused to deal with pornography and violence in the school. After Butler was removed, she sought to be reinstated but was refused.
Muscatello resigned in July of 2004, citing personal reasons, but denying that her leaving had anything to do with Butler's arrest.
Neither she nor the Rev. Stewart Lindsay, a priest who oversaw St. Dominic Savio School as canonical administrator from 2002 to 2004, responded to two phone messages left Friday by The Buffalo News.
Gonzalez has been waiting for three years for an apology from Bishop Edward U. Kmiec to his daughter and the two other girls who came forward and reported Butler's behavior.
He said he met with Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz, who was leading the diocese at the time as temporary administrator until Kmiec's installation, on Oct. 25, 2004. Three days later, Gonzalez said lawyers from the diocese contacted him.
"They hid behind the laws with a lawyer, instead of acting like a church. They made me hire a lawyer," he said. "Those people should be excommunicated."
Gonzalez insisted he sought only a direct apology from the bishop and wasn't interested in money. His lawyers, from the Hogan Willig firm in Amherst, have been negotiating with the diocese for more than two years.
"The apology seemed to be a big hang-up," he said.
Gonzalez has long been active in the Catholic church, serving as a youth director and Eucharistic minister and participating in pro-life activities.
But he said his patience with the diocese has run out. His lawyers are preparing a case, asking that the court order the diocese to pay for counseling costs, high school and college tuition, attorney's fees and pain and suffering for the girls affected by Butler's behavior.
Contact: jtokasz@buffnews.com
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