CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO TV
Nov. 19, 2019
By Paula Christian, Craig Cheatham and Dan Monk
The month after the Vatican removed Pater from priestly ministry, a small Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights hired him as the director of music. He played the organ there for more than five years and prepared choir music.
It’s part of a disturbing pattern in which local Catholic church officials failed to track priests accused of abuse, didn’t disclose to the public all of the names of priests with credible allegations and still refuse to answer questions about why more information isn’t available.
In a three-month investigation the WCPO I-Team also discovered more than 50 Roman Catholic priests and brothers with ties to the Tri-State who had accusations of sexual abuse, but do not appear on any local list published by church leaders.
“The Catholic church has still not developed any mechanism for following these priests,” said attorney Konrad Kircher, who has represented 90 alleged abuse survivors in lawsuits against the church in Ohio.
Attorney Konrad Kircher has represented 90 survivors in lawsuits against the Catholic Church.
As a young priest, Pater worked at St. Charles in Kettering from 1979 to 1982, where he started a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who was grieving over the sudden death of her brother.
From there Pater joined the Vatican diplomatic corps, serving in Africa, Australia, India and Rome. When he returned home on vacation, the abuse survivor, who is known as Jane Doe in court filings, claimed Pater continued a sexual relationship with her.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.