Who Is Monitoring Suspended Priests? The Surprising Answer: No One, by Michael Clancy, Arizona Republic, November 10, 2006

Who Is Monitoring Suspended Priests?
The Surprising Answer: No One

By Michael Clancy
Arizona Republic
November 10, 2006

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1110priests1111.html

Neither the Diocese of Phoenix nor civil authorities are supervising more than half a dozen priests who are under suspension for sexually abusing children, but remain in the priesthood.

One of them, Wilputte "Lan" Sherwood, has dropped out of sight, failing to report to his probation officer since June 2005. When he was convicted 12 years earlier, he admitted to having sex with 1,840 people, including 22 minors, mostly picked up as hitchhikers.

While the church has offered the priests a recovery plan that includes counseling, officials say they cannot require the priests to follow through. Nor can they require them to keep in contact.

Police and probation officers don't always track the priests either. Many of them have not been convicted of abuse, and some have completed probationary periods.

Peter Pollard of the anti-abuse organization Stop It Now says punishment is not enough to protect minors.

"We need a full menu of prevention programs that offer hope as well as accountability," he said. Pollard is a victim of abuse.

While none of the seven priests are known to have abused minors since their suspensions, the concern is that they could. In the past two months, two suspended Catholic priests were arrested.

In Syracuse, N.Y., police busted a priest from Delaware on charges that he repeatedly abused a teenage boy. In Davenport, Iowa, a suspended priest was accused of having contact with children after it was prohibited as part of his previous sentence for possession of child pornography.

The cases throw a harsh light on the inability of Catholic authorities to keep track of nearly 4,000 priests nationwide who are accused of abuse and were suspended but not removed from the priesthood.

Suspended priests

The Diocese of Phoenix pays a stipend to suspended priests, if it knows where they are, and offers spiritual and psychological counseling. Most do not take part.

Besides Sherwood, the list of priests includes Patrick Colleary, who won an extradition fight and remains in Ireland, avoiding pending charges in Maricopa County, and Joseph Lessard, who served a probation sentence in 1993, was suspended in 2002 and since has moved to Thailand.

One other apparently has left the church. Harold Graf, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, now attends Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. He was suspended in 2002 for a case dating back to the 1970s. No charges or lawsuits ever were filed.

Attempts to reach Graf through the cathedral failed. Cathedral administrator Martin Pommerenke said he knew nothing of Graf's past, although Graf has taught religious classes at the downtown church.

The Tucson diocese counts 10 diocesan priests who are suspended. It, too, has lost track of at least one of them.

Cause for concern

Although no Phoenix or Tucson priest is believed to have reoffended, Peter Isely, a therapist who is a leader among abuse victims, said the public should be concerned about the possibility.

"Dioceses ought to alert communities about where these guys are, and they should release information on their histories, making it easy to find," he said.

According to the church's own statistics, more than 4,000 American priests have been accused of abusing a minor. As in Phoenix, many of them are dead, several served time in prison, and others left the priesthood.

"Many of the proven, admitted and credibly accused pedophile priests essentially get little or no supervision," said David Clohessy, national director of the SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "They live alone or with retired priests, often near neighbors who have no idea that they were accused of this crime."

Paul Duckro, director of the Office of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection for the Diocese of Tucson, said the threat of returning offenders to the active priesthood is too risky.

"The reoffense rate is 17 to 20 percent," he said. "By psychological standards, that is good, but you have to consider the downside of even an improbable event. In these cases, it is tremendous. It is a risk you just cannot take."

Reducing temptation

In Tucson, officials rely on a two-pronged approach toward keeping offenders in check: maintaining open communication with the public and working closely with law enforcement, Duckro said.

Maxine Stein, president and chief executive officer of the anti-abuse group Stop It Now, said psychological counseling reduces the rate of reoffending from around 10 to 15 percent.

But "we cannot assume anyone has had treatment," she said. "If someone is attracted to children but gets no treatment, they continue to have the same problem."

Dwyer, the Phoenix Diocese spokesman, said, "The diocese and the bishop believe they have an obligation to maintain contact and to establish parameters of healthy living, in order to help them function responsibly in society."

Of 31 priests linked to the sex abuse scandal with connections to the Phoenix Diocese, nine have been convicted of crimes, and one is awaiting trial. At least 10 have been named in civil suits.

Priests who are suspended may not celebrate Mass publicly, wear a clerical collar or appear publicly as a priest.

"If they are held accountable somewhere, somehow, they can continue their lives without abusing again, " Duckro of Tucson said.

"Mostly they need a podium from which to offend. Without the podium, the status, you take away their opportunities and their modus operandi."

Seven priests of the Diocese of Phoenix are living freely after they were subjects of allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Some have served time, one awaits his trial, one has charges pending and two never were subjects of lawsuits or criminal charges.

Patrick Colleary - He moved to Ireland after an initial set of criminal charges was dropped in 2003; subsequently, he was charged with more crimes, but courts in Ireland declined to extradite him. He served at Holy Spirit, Tempe, Most Holy Trinity, Phoenix; St. Henry, Buckeye; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Glendale; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Scottsdale.

Dale Fushek - Former pastor of St. Timothy is free, awaiting trail on seven misdemeanor counts. He last was known to be living in Phoenix, free of the house arrest that he originally faced.

Harold Graf - Suspended in 2002, Graf resides in Phoenix but his day-to-day activities are unknown to the diocese. He served at Our Lady of Lourdes, Sun City West, and St. Joan of Arc, Phoenix. Also spent several years at Newman Center, Northern Arizona University. He now attends an Episcopalian church, Trinity Cathedral in downtown Phoenix. The diocese says it has no knowledge of that. Graf could not be reached for comment.

Joseph Lessard - The diocese says he is in Thailand but his activities are unknown. A pre-sentencing report identified Lessard as a "regressive pedophile" and warned "the defendant poses a severe threat to the safety and welfare of children within the community and will maintain a propensity to reoffend." The diocese says he occasionally checks in.

Saul Madrid - He left religious service in 2000 after a series of problems. A lawsuit against him was settled recently. Although he remains a priest, he was last known to be working in a Phoenix medical office. He has declined comment on his religious past.

George Pirrung - Former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Cottonwood is retired in that central Arizona community. He served at Blessed Sacrament in Miami, where the abuse is said to have occurred, Sacred Heart in Nogales, Queen of Peace in Mesa, Immaculate Conception in Douglas, St. Catherine in Phoenix, Holy Family in Phoenix and the Cottonwood church. Contacted after he was named as an abuser by Tucson Diocese officials, he said he remembered no incidents.

Wilputte "Lan" Sherwood - His whereabouts are unknown, and a warrant is pending for his arrest for probation violations. He served at four area churches: St. Theresa in Phoenix, St. Louis the King in Glendale, St. Henry in Buckeye and St. Benedict in Chandler. Although Bishop Thomas O'Brien said in 2002 that he would seek Sherwood's laicization, no steps have been taken yet, the diocese says.