Posted on 04/14/2010 7:27:01 AM PDT by Judith Anne
MIAMI — A Presbyterian youth minister who has been teaching local children with learning disabilities is accused in a Chicago lawsuit of repeatedly sexually abusing four minor boys throughout the 1990s.
The suit filed Tuesday, May 14, claims that the Rev. Douglas R. Mason took advantage of his position as the director of a youth ministry in Chicago. From 1990 to 1999 Mason had sex with the boys while taking explicit photographs and filming them, court documents said. Mason also is accused in the lawsuit of providing alcohol and cigarettes to the minors.
The lawsuit said the abuse took place in the basement, the minister's office, a Youth Ministry van, movie theaters as well as during field trips. In addition to Mason, the Presbytery of Chicago, the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation and the Catholic Bishop of Chicago are defendants. The unidentified boys, who are now about 18, are asking for "fair and just compensation."
This is not the first time Mason has faced problems relating to claims of abuse.
Chicago police investigated Mason in May 1999 for unspecified abuse allegations after the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services received a call on its hotline. A spokesman for the Illinois agency said Wednesday their case was determined to be "indicated." To the agency, this means enough evidence was found to justify the claims.
The police opened its own investigation, but an arrest warrant was never issued before Mason left Chicago, Sgt. Robert Cargie said.
"I have nothing to hide," said Mason in Miami on Wednesday, adding that he is scared, numb and "doesn't have a dime. I knew about (the lawsuit) before, but I didn't know if it was just a threat."
Reluctant to comment on the specifics of the suit, Mason referred questions to his attorney Jerry Latherow in Chicago. Neither Latherow nor the Chicago Archdiocese could be reached for comment. Jerry Reynolds, the executive director of the Presbytery of Chicago, has not reviewed the lawsuit and had no comment.
Before coming to Miami about two years ago, Mason was the director of the San Marcos Youth Ministry, which reaches out to bring underprivileged youth into the fold. Mason provided "help, spiritual guidance and counseling, specifically to parishioners under the age of 18," documents said. He also provided the four boys scholarships to the local Catholic school, awarded by the Youth Ministry.
"He would routinely go in and take them out of the school sometimes for the entire day," said the boys' attorney Devon Bruce, adding that none of the parents was told Mason took their children out of school.
Both the Chicago Archdiocese and the Presbytery of Chicago were alerted in 1999 after a teacher received a tape one of the boys made for Mason in which the boy talked about sex, Bruce said. The Chicago bishop was named in the lawsuit because the Archdiocese oversees the school.
The tape launched a separate investigation into Mason, who about that time moved to an Indian reservation in South Dakota.
Eventually, Mason made his way to South Florida, where he found work as the interim associate pastor at the Miami Shores Presbyterian Church for more than a year beginning in March 2000.
While working at Miami Shores, the Presbytery of Chicago contacted church officials about their investigation into Mason, said spokeswoman Melissa Gracey. Mason did not share the nature of the claims but openly told the senior minister and congregates they had no merit, she said.
"He didn't want to leave us, and we didn't want him to leave, but the Chicago Presbytery required that he not be in a ministerial position," Gracey said, adding that, until formal findings to the contrary, Mason still has their support.
Mason left the church about June 2001. According to standard procedure at Children & Family Services, by that time Mason's name should have been entered into a database available for background checks. It is unclear whether Mason's name is on the Children's Abuse and Neglect Tracking System.
Chicago police said they still are interested in talking to Mason, though they have no plans to travel to Florida to find him.
Mason was hired to work at the Academy of the Arts at Hope, a Miami Christian performing arts school, through the end of 2001.
When the school closed, the director of the South Florida International Academy hired Mason to teach a class of 13- to 17-year-old students who have learning disabilities including dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.
Director Lise Holash called Mason "a good man, compassionate, knowledgeable and the students love him." She added in accordance with school policy Mason was never left alone with any students and "therefore we know for a fact nothing happened here."
But, shortly after Wednesday'’s interview, Holash fired Mason for what she said were problems unrelated to the lawsuit.
She said Mason was warned about his inability to discipline students and about not signing in every morning.
"Frankly, I think this thing is being extremely overblown and everyone is trying to ride on the scandal of the Catholic Church's coattail," Holash said. ------------------------------------------
You wrote:
“There may be some here who object that this is an old article, given the date it was published, but considering that dates mean nothing when the Catholic Church is being criticized for the same thing, I don’t think the date should make a difference.”
TOUCHE!
I’m not going to say what I think because it will only get me in trouble and serve no real purpose.
But let me say this much, Oh how I long for adult conversation.
From the article:
"He didn't want to leave us, and we didn't want him to leave, but the Chicago Presbytery required that he not be in a ministerial position," Gracey said, adding that, until formal findings to the contrary, Mason still has their support."
So, he apparently was removed from a ministerial position, pending the result of the investigation.
"Also named as a defendant in the case is the bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago of the Roman Catholic Church. The Chicago Tribune said the Catholic Church was accused of negligence for allegedly releasing the boys to Mason during school hours while they were students at St. Gregory Catholic High School. "
This was true recently enough that we still have some priests who entered seminary for precisely this reason.
However, the screening and formation today is set up in such a way that a bunch of questions are asked before and during formation. It's not a good hide-out anymore.
(Full disclosure: I speak this as a current seminarian)
I don't know that his new employer was aware of the accusations.
Just because somebody said something is so does not make it so.
Why didn’t the new church do a background check? Why didn’t the old church stop him before he had abused CHILDREN for 9 years? There’s something rotten to the core in the Presbyterian Church that permits these monsters to destroy young souls year after year after year.
I suspect it’s because nobody talks to anybody in that church. As long as the preacher sticks to the company line, he can abuse all the learning disabled kids he wants.
NOW if I wanted to spin this like an atypical religion basher I have seen on FR I would ask/exclaim indignantly and righteously:
Where is the compassion for these innocent children from the Presbyterians here on FR -are they so preoccupied defending thier Church that they care nothing for the victims? Ohhhh... the HUMANITY!!!!
If there were no convictions at that time -- because the Civil authorities apparently dropped the ball pretty badly on this one -- would a background check have even shown anything?
Why didn’t the old church stop him before he had abused CHILDREN for 9 years? There’s something rotten to the core in the Presbyterian Church that permits these monsters to destroy young souls year after year after year. I suspect it’s because nobody talks to anybody in that church. As long as the preacher sticks to the company line, he can abuse all the learning disabled kids he wants.
Perhaps the fault lies with the Roman Catholic diocese which happily fed this monster his victims.
I'll have you know, I've never accused the Roman Catholic church's discipline of Priestly Celibacy as being the "cause" of that denomination's problems with pedophilia. I do think that the RCC does have a problem with a disturbingly large minority (note I said, "minority") of priests in that area; and I don't think that Priestly Celibacy is theologically correct, myself; but I think that the problem has at least much more to do with Homosexuals entering the priesthood... for which the RCC's procedures might be criticized, but not their theology: the RCC has never approved of homosexual practice.
But if you want to TEAR DOWN Presbyterians as a way of trying to make your own denomination look better -- fine, I can play that game, too.
I think that the only post I've made on the subject of Roman Catholicism, on ANY recent thread, was a couple weeks ago when I observed that whatever my disagreements with Roman Catholicism, I still think that Pius XII was a hero of World War II for his work in saving 800,000 Jews from the Holocaust. Whatever problems you may have had with other Protestants, I have not been lurking the Religion threads looking for opportunities to bash the RCC for pedophilia.
But I certainly can do so, if you want me to.
Thanks for your thoughtful post, semi-FRiend.
But really, this thread is not about Catholics, or anyone’s bigotry about Catholics. The thread is about a PRESBYTERIAN. The minister is PRESBYTERIAN. And was allowed to molest learning disabled children BY THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH for 9 years.
What in the name of all that’s holy causes people to be blinded into thinking that PRESBYTERIANS are free from child molesting ministers? They are not. This is not the only one.
"Also named as a defendant in the case is the bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago of the Roman Catholic Church. The Chicago Tribune said the Catholic Church was accused of negligence for allegedly releasing the boys to Mason during school hours while they were students at St. Gregory Catholic High School."
So far Judith Anne has dug up a decade-old article which reflects poorly on the RCC and another article that condemns the PCUSA for believing EXACTLY as the Roman Catholic church believes regarding eschatology and Israel.
LOL. Judith, you said you have a new book you have to read. Hopefully it's either the Bible or a current newspaper.
Must have hit a nerve.
The only reason they dragged the Catholics into this lawsuit against the filthy Presbyterian minister is that they know the Presbyterians are poor stewards, and after all their internal strife, broke. Any hope of getting cash for the attorneys rests with the Catholics, if they can somehow drag them into it.
I doubt it though.
Straws being grasped and missed.
Sorry.
But you seem to want this whole thread to be about bashing Presbyterians.
And you don't seem to want there to be any deviation from that agenda.
Fact is, there's much more sexually-dangerous schools for kids to be in -- and I'm not talking about Catholic schools. But you don't seem to want to talk about that.
Is that what you think? Heh. In a few days, I'll have more time to present more reading. ;-D And as I said in my comment above, the only reason the lawyers dragged the Church in is, the Presbyterians are broke. Lousy stewards of time and treasure. To get the lawyers paid, they have to try to get the Church involved. I don't think it will work.
Oh, no, I agree the public schools are in many cases a cesspool.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.