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What might have been a rich lode of information on the background of abusive
Catholic priests and religious brothers has been destroyed by a center in New
Mexico where some of them had been sent for treatment.
The material was discarded, according to the head of the order that ran it,
following policy and because of concern for medical privacy and storage space.
The program was closed in 1995.
It is not clear whether litigants who clearly would have been eager to see
contents of the files could have gotten access to them anyway.
One recurring question in the sex abuse scandal involving priests nationwide is
whether the church recognized but hid predators and put them in circumstances
where they could find new victims. The material once on file might have
provided ammunition to press some lawsuits but perhaps to defend some as well.
The Catholic Church and other religious orders have paid out sums approaching
$1 billion for settlements and jury verdicts over cases alleging clergy sex
abuse.
The facility, which operated most recently under the name Fitzgerald Center, in
Jemez Springs, N.M., was run for decades by the Servants of the Paraclete,
which also has treatment centers in St. Louis and Dittmer. It has treated
thousands of priests, brothers and other religious people battling addiction,
depression and sexual problems. Among them were some priests who have become
infamous locally and nationally for molesting young boys and girls.
All of the patient records have been destroyed, Servant General Peter Lechner
said in an interview this month.
"Key evidence"
Minnesota lawyer Patrick Noaker, who says he has filed almost 2,000 clergy or
teacher sex abuse cases nationwide, said the loss of the records is frustrating
and "highly significant."
Noaker, who has seen some patient records from the Servants, said they often
contained information about how many sex abuse allegations had been made and
under what circumstances.
"The destruction of those records was really the destruction of key evidence in
criminal proceedings," Noaker said.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests, said, "I just think it's shameful that even one piece of paper that
might have helped prosecute one molester would be destroyed."
Texas lawyer Sylvia Demarest, who has sued the Servants, said she thinks the
order destroyed the records to protect itself but cannot be held legally
accountable for it.
Lechner said the documents were destroyed as part of a longstanding policy -
and because of concerns over storage space and the long-term security and
privacy of the material.
Lechner said the Servants sought legal advice about whether to preserve records
in anticipation of lawsuits or requests for information, and said their lawyers
recommended continuing the existing policy.
Citing legal advice, he declined comment on whether the potential for future
civil suits affected the decision.
The destruction of the records first came to the attention of the head of the
Marianist Province of the United States last month, after a former student at
St. John Vianney High School here sued the St. Louis-based order, the school
and former Marianist Brother William Mueller, a former teacher and school
official.
The suit alleges that Mueller sexually abused Bryan Bacon at knifepoint in
1985, and that school and province officials knew or should have known that
Mueller was a threat to children.
Other lawsuits filed last month against the Marianists and the Pueblo, Colo.,
diocese allege that in the 1960s, Mueller used the anesthetic ether to drug
boys before sexually assaulting them. One case claims Mueller fondled one
student after convincing him that he would play the trombone better in the nude.
Police investigate
Two police departments have looked into the allegations.
Sgt. Troy Davenport of the Pueblo police said investigators have been hampered
by Colorado's statute of limitations, which says criminal charges must be filed
within 10 years of the 18th birthday of the alleged victim.
Davenport said that treatment records from Servants could be useful in a
criminal investigation.
Kirkwood police Detective Geoff Morrison said investigators' access to the
material might have been blocked by patient confidentiality - and that contents
if obtained might not have been useful. "It depends on what was said and to
whom it was said," Morrison said.
Morrison said an investigation into the allegations against Mueller is still
open.
Mueller has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
Marianist Province records show that Mueller went to treatment in New Mexico
after resigning in 1983 from St. Mary's High School, where he had been
principal. But the documents don't reveal why he quit.
Because there was no paper trail, Brother Stephen Glodek, head of the Marianist
Province of the U.S., was forced to seek out former officials and school
administrators and tap their decades-old memories.
Province officials told Glodek that Mueller had been accused of bizarre
behavior while principal of St. Mary's High School, including hypnotizing or
drugging children.
Officials interviewed by a reporter said they were not aware of any sexual
allegations involving Mueller.
In an e-mail, former Marianist Provincial David Fleming wrote that he had never
heard "accusations of direct sexual contact on William Mueller's part and he
strongly denied it in my interview with him when he was assigned for
psychological treatment. However, the allegations concerned bizarre behavior,
which he admitted to me, and I felt the treatment was essential."
Province and school officials said that Mueller was assigned to Vianney after
the Servants' operation in New Mexico offered assurances that he was fit to
serve in any position.
Fleming, who is now based in Italy as the superior general of the Marianists,
said province policy at the time was "to reassign persons only if the
professionals recommended it."
The Marianists' inquiry has not been able to find any paperwork to back up the
decades-old memories.
In a 1995 deposition, the Rev. Liam Hoare, former Servant General of the
Paracletes order, told lawyers that until 1989 or 1990, copies of progress
reports and evaluations were sent out from New Mexico with language instructing
religious leaders to destroy their copies of treatment and evaluation records
or return them to the Servants facility for destruction.
Hoare and Lechner told lawyers then that a patient could block the release of
his records to his home parish, order or province.
"Would I like those records? Certainly," said Marianist spokeswoman Dianne
Guerra.
"We had to piece together information from a lot of sources," Guerra said.
The Marianists also had to rely on the recollection of former officials that
there had been a letter from the Servants clearing Mueller for return to work
in any capacity.
"We just don't have it in writing," Guerra said. "It would certainly lend
credence . . . if we could have the letter itself."
Lechner declined to comment on specific people who had been treated at Jemez
Springs.
In an interview Friday, Lechner said about 12 priests sent to the New Mexico
facility in the 1960s and 1970s are known to have later abused minors. He said
only one was known to have re-offended after the Servants set up a full-fledged
treatment program in the 1980s.
Lechner said that the document destruction would have little effect on civil
suits, as he believes the records would have been protected by "priest-penitent
and therapist privilege."
Just one priest's file was ever released to lawyers, Lechner said, and that was
only because the priest agreed to it.
Noaker disputed that, saying he had received documents from the Servants in
other lawsuits.
Lechner also emphasized that the documents would not necessarily be harmful to
the Servants in a civil lawsuit, and could be helpful to their defense.
rpatrick@post-dispatch.com 314-621-5154
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