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Missionary Priest Charged w/Sex Abuse (and two more cases in New York)
New York Times ^ | June 26, 2002 | Thomas J. Lueck

Posted on 06/26/2002 8:23:23 PM PDT by Aliska

Missionary Priest Is Charged With Sex Abuse of Queens Boy By THOMAS J. LUECK

A priest visiting a Roman Catholic parish in Queens was arrested last night and charged with the sexual abuse of a 12-year-boy during a Father's Day excursion to Rockaway Beach.

The authorities said the priest, the Rev. Peter Kiare, 41, a native of Kenya who is a member of a missionary order in Ireland, would be arraigned today in Queens County Criminal Court on charges of sex abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child.

He was arrested at 5:30 p.m. yesterday by detectives with the Queens Special Victims Bureau at a residence for priests in Long Island City, Queens, and remained in jail last night pending his arraignment, according to Patrick Clark, a spokesman for the Queens County district attorney, Richard A. Brown.

An investigator said the 12-year-old described an ordeal of being touched against his will repeatedly over the course of a beach trip to the southern end of Queens.

Father Kiare is the third priest arrested in just over a month on charges of sex abuse committed in the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens. On May 23, a priest from India was arrested in Harlem and charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl three years ago at her home in Brooklyn. And on Friday, a visiting priest from Nigeria was arrested in Texas and charged with raping a woman two years ago in a Brooklyn rectory.

That priest, the Rev. Cyriacus Udegbulem, 38, was dismissed by the Diocese of Laredo, Tex., in 2001 because of complaints that he had groped women there, a law enforcement official in New York said yesterday. Father Udegbulem pleaded not guilty to the New York charges on Monday at his arraignment before Justice Neil J. Firetog of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. The judge set bail at $50,000. Father Udegbulem remains imprisoned at Rikers Island, pending his next court date in September.

His lawyer, George Lewis, said his client maintained that the sexual contact in Brooklyn was consensual.

The authorities said last night that Father Kiare had arrived in New York on June 11 and was delivering sermons at St. Mary's Church in Woodside, Queens. A member of Holy Ghost Fathers, a missionary order at work in poor nations of Africa and elsewhere, he was asking for donations from the parishioners, according to a church official.

Investigators said he befriended the 12-year-old boy and won the trust of the boy's family, who are members of the St. Mary's congregation. With the family's consent, they said, he took the boy on an outing on June 16; they traveled by public bus to Rockaway Beach.

"The abuse occurred on the bus, on the beach and on the bus ride back," said an official close to the investigation who insisted that his name not be used. He said the boy told detectives that he resisted the priest's advances, which involved groping and touching, and told his mother of the abuse when he returned home.

The boy's mother then contacted St. Mary's, and officials there contacted the Queens district attorney, the authorities said. They declined to identify the boy or his family.

Frank DeRosa, a spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn, said last night that St. Mary's it was "very likely" that officials at St. Mary's had consulted diocesan officials about the incident before contacting the district.

attorney.

But he said Father Kiare, unlike the two other visiting priests charged recently with sexual offenses, had not been authorized by the diocese to work in any parish of Brooklyn or Queens. "He had no permission to function here," Mr. DeRosa said. Although it is not uncommon for visiting priests to spend time at parishes raising money for missionary work without the official sanction of the local diocese, he said that Father Kiare's status as a missionary doing fund-raising placed him outside direct oversight of the diocese.

For years, he said, the diocese has had a policy requiring priests from abroad who are authorized to work in parishes to provide an affidavit, signed by the priests' own bishops, that they have no history of "anything that would disqualify them from working in a parish."

Such affidavits were provided by the two other priests who now face sexual abuse charges, he said.

Father Kiare "is not a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese or associated with that parish," he said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abusivepriest; priestabuse
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Guess it is still going on. Who is it who said they would welcome priests from Africa, etc.?
1 posted on 06/26/2002 8:23:23 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
ping. Please ping the others.
2 posted on 06/26/2002 8:24:43 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska
What parents in their right mind would let a 12 year old go to the beach with a Priest? - Holy man or not, what an odd outing, anyway....especially with what's been going on lately....Not trying to deflect blame from the real criminal here, but a little common sense goes a LONG way!
3 posted on 06/26/2002 8:29:06 PM PDT by MaskedMan
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To: MaskedMan
You got me on that one. Note that he told his mother right away. That tells me that he was aware of some of the things in the news lately. Most of the past victims never told anyone until much later.

Typical mo. Ingratiate yourself with the family and get them to trust you.

Now it will be the kid's word against the priest. How that will play out is anybody's guess.

4 posted on 06/26/2002 8:36:32 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska
The authorities said the priest, the Rev. Peter Kiare, 41, a native of Kenya who is a member of a missionary order in Ireland, would be arraigned today in Queens County, NY Criminal Court on charges of sex abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a 12 year old child.

His lawyer, George Lewis, said his client maintained that the sexual contact in Brooklyn was consensual.

FYI Ping

5 posted on 06/27/2002 7:31:03 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Aliska
I didn't see your ping until tonight. We had terrible thunder storms.
I pinged everyone, but their names didn't show up. I'll try again.
Unbelievable article.
6 posted on 06/27/2002 7:59:12 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Aliska; maryz; CatoRenasci; Palladin; one_particular_harbour; american colleen; eastsider; ...
A priest visiting a Roman Catholic parish in Queens, NY was arrested last night and charged with the sexual abuse of a 12-year-boy during a Father's Day excursion to Rockaway Beach.

FYI Ping

7 posted on 06/27/2002 8:04:28 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
On Father's Day no less.....
8 posted on 06/27/2002 8:09:11 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
burned out ping
9 posted on 06/27/2002 8:12:10 PM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: Aliska
Who is it who said they would welcome priests from Africa, etc.?

Nigeria, Kenya, India.

The Vatican maintains that this is is only an "American problem."

We are the tip of the iceberg, folks. There is something inherently wrong with the kind of men the Church is calling to the priesthood, worldwide.

10 posted on 06/27/2002 8:13:22 PM PDT by sinkspur
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To: CatoRenasci
burned out ping

"shall this never end?"
(and I'm sympathetic to the vast majority of moral Catholics struggling with
the bad boy priests and the hierarchy that is their enabling group)
11 posted on 06/27/2002 8:22:24 PM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA
won't end until the Church removes all the Poofters!
12 posted on 06/27/2002 8:25:48 PM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
The Dragnet widens...
13 posted on 06/27/2002 8:28:34 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: Aliska; mickie
Gee....our catholic parish has a visiting priest coming this Sunday to discuss his missionary. He was held up because of his visa and got delayed by a week or two. Should I begin to worry?
14 posted on 06/27/2002 8:30:22 PM PDT by MVV
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To: MaskedMan
Bears repeating. Common sense a rare commodity these days.
15 posted on 06/27/2002 8:45:50 PM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: MVV
Should I begin to worry?

Extensive background check by Bo Dietel.

16 posted on 06/27/2002 8:51:43 PM PDT by sinkspur
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To: MVV
I'm sure your parish priest would screen anyone he invites into his Church.......wouldn't he?
17 posted on 06/27/2002 8:58:10 PM PDT by mickie
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To: anniegetyourgun; CatoRenasci; sinkspur; VOA; HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity; MissAmericanPie; ...
His lawyer, George Lewis, said his client maintained that the sexual contact in Brooklyn was consensual.

What a sleazy thing for the priest and his lawyer to say about a 12 yr old boy.

18 posted on 06/27/2002 9:04:07 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Aliska
Hurrah! They're sending the bastards to Riker's instead of to some cushy place like St. Luke's in Maryland. Maybe the Bishops are sincere about zero tolerance.
19 posted on 06/27/2002 9:04:50 PM PDT by Palladin
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
What a sleazy thing for the priest and his lawyer to say about a 12 yr old boy.

Doc, this is the Nigerian who raped a woman.

I know, it's tough to keep up without a scorecard.

Africa has a huge problem with priests accosting women. They start with nuns and then proceed down the food chain.

20 posted on 06/27/2002 9:10:14 PM PDT by sinkspur
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