Priest (Fr. Benedict Groeschel) plays down abuse crisis; helps clergy keep jobs

In the world according to Father Benedict Groeschel, the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal is largely the stuff of fiction. Reporters "doing the work of Satan" are driven to lie, the New York priest says, because they hate the church's moral teachings.

These are not the opinions of a marginal figure. Indeed, Father Groeschel is one of the most prominent priests in America, reaching millions with his books, tapes, parish lectures and regular appearances on the Eternal Word Television Network.

His stature is high among many church leaders, too – he has heard the confessions of a cardinal, consulted with the Vatican on a case for sainthood, been a friend to Mother Teresa.

The preface to his media-blaming 2002 book From Scandal to Hope was written by Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who praised Father Groeschel for putting the abuse scandal in context.

For all his commentary on the crisis, Father Groeschel has revealed few details about his role as a player in it: He has been a key figure for 30 years in the loose-knit nationwide network of therapists who have helped troubled priests keep working.

The Franciscan friar's base is a mansion on Long Island Sound, where he runs the Archdiocese of New York's spiritual development office and Trinity Retreat Center for clergy. There, according to his own written account, he has counseled hundreds of his brethren and "happily, 85 priests have returned to the active ministry."

Father Groeschel, who declined interview requests, has not said publicly how many of his clients were accused of abuse. Archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling would not comment on Father Groeschel.

Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann has allowed one of his priests, removed from parish work after the diocese concluded he had abused a girl, to help manage the retreat center in recent years. That priest, the Rev. Richard T. Brown, moved to a hermitage a few months ago and "is not contactable," said Father Groeschel's secretary, June Pulitano. Neither she nor Bishop Grahmann's spokesman, Bronson Havard, would identify the hermitage.

Mr. Zwilling said Father Brown "never did any pastoral work" in the archdiocese and did not have its permission to serve as a priest there.

Leaders of the neighboring Diocese of Paterson, N.J., one of several that sent business to Father Groeschel, blamed three "unfortunate" reassignments on his advice. Two of those priests were subsequently accused of misconduct in their new jobs.

"We relied on his recommendations," said Marianna Thompson, spokeswoman for Paterson Bishop Frank Rodimer. Father Groeschel used words such as "transformation," she said, and helped arrange transfers between dioceses.

Ms. Thompson said Father Groeschel had much to recommend him – he had taught pastoral psychology at Catholic institutions and had a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University's Teachers College. He had close ties to the late New York Cardinal John O'Connor, who endorsed the friar's secession from a Franciscan order in the 1980s and formation of a new group that has won renown for service to the poor. The cardinal earlier had Father Groeschel prepare the sainthood case for the previous leader of New York Catholics, Cardinal Terence Cooke, for whom the priest had served as confessor.

In From Scandal to Hope, completed shortly before the nation's bishops met in Dallas last summer, Father Groeschel acknowledged that some priests had abused boys. He described the problem as "active homosexuality with minors," stressing that most victims were teenagers and never mentioning girls.

"Many of the cases now in the papers are about clergy who, perhaps under the influence of alcohol two or three decades ago, engaged in improper actions, but not sexual acts," he wrote. "They went into treatment and have behaved well over the years."

Father Groeschel also said that church leaders sometimes had relied, to their detriment, on the advice of behavioral experts.

"I've been involved in psychology for four decades, and we in the profession were naïve enough to think that these offenders could almost always be cured," he wrote. Therapists "often were correct in their assessments," but "were sometimes tragically wrong about a particular case."

Father Groeschel said nothing in his book about his own success rate in treating priests.

He saved his harshest words for the news media's coverage of the abuse issue, which he called a "blitz of lies." Like Adolf Hitler, he wrote, news organizations are "spreading lies in order to destroy" the Catholic Church.

"When a scandal occurs," the priest wrote, "about two percent of what is said in the media is true." Last month, he made similar statements to a standing-room-only crowd at a suburban Boston church.

Such statements have infuriated victims. "It just burns me to no end," said Buddy Cotton, who has accused the Rev. James Hanley of abusing him in the Paterson Diocese and recently called Bishop Rodimer to complain about Father Groeschel.

The bishop, Mr. Cotton said, agreed that Father Groeschel "had failed a lot of victims."

Ms. Thompson, the bishop's spokeswoman, said Father Groeschel's critique of the media was misguided. "Bishop Rodimer has told the media, 'Thank you for opening the window on this,' " she said. "The media have been fair. We created this story, not the press."

Father Groeschel has said he is sensitive to victims. "As a psychologist for priests, I have occasionally spoken to the victims of priests and to their families," he wrote in From Scandal to Hope. "I can only say that I am deeply, deeply grieved. I often had to accept their anger, not directed personally at me, but at Church authorities. ...

Mark Serrano, who also has said that Father Hanley abused him as a boy, questioned Father Groeschel's sincerity. His skepticism, he said, is based on an experience he had after his family's complaints led Bishop Rodimer to suspend Father Hanley.

In 1986, the year after the abuse complaints, Mr. Serrano agreed to talk to Father Groeschel, who was counseling Father Hanley. Mr. Serrano, who was then a college student, said he thought the counselor "wanted more information" for therapeutic purposes. Instead, Mr. Serrano said, Father Groeschel lashed out at him.

"He said, 'Why don't you stop harassing this poor priest? He's a sick man. You are wrong for what you're doing to him.' "

Monsignor Kenneth Lasch, a Paterson diocesan priest, said he had urged Mr. Serrano to talk with Father Groeschel because the friar had expressed pastoral concern for Mr. Serrano – "something like, 'Mark seems to be a troubled person.' "

Hearing Mr. Serrano's account of what ensued "left me very, very uncomfortable," Monsignor Lasch said, "and made me wonder what was going on" at Father Groeschel's retreat center.

Father Groeschel's 2002 book warned that Catholics would still face a crisis after "the media monster ... slither[s] away to attack other victims." He prescribed a return to conservative moral teachings, saying that nothing would restore confidence in church leadership "better than a firm stance against pornography, extramarital sex, abortion, euthanasia and the general moral decline of the United States. ... Tough topics like contraception and autoeroticism need to be consistently and publicly addressed."

He said that the news media fail to mention that most priests aren't pedophiles, that cover-ups occur in other denominations, and that abusers "are among the most penitent people I've ever met in my whole life."

He cited the example of the late Atlanta Archbishop Eugene Marino, who resigned in 1990 after an affair with a young woman in lay ministry and went to Father Groeschel's retreat center, in the New York City suburb of Larchmont. He "lived a life of extreme humiliation, humility and penitence," Father Groeschel wrote.

In the mid-1990s, Archbishop Marino became spiritual director of the outpatient Clergy Consultation and Treatment Service at St. Vincent's Hospital, near Trinity Retreat. It was formed at the request of the late Cardinal O'Connor and works closely with the retreat center.

One priest who was counseled by Archbishop Marino and Father Groeschel was the Rev. Morgan Kuhl.

He was sent to them in 1999, after he solicited sex online from undercover officers posing as adolescent boys and was arrested. The subsequent FBI investigation showed that he had met teens this way and abused them.

The prosecution of Father Kuhl, who has been removed from ministry, opened a rare window into the Catholic clergy treatment system.

A psychologist who evaluated Father Kuhl for federal prosecutors recommended that he "be enrolled in a program specific to sex offenders," not just in the general psychotherapy and spiritual counseling he was getting. Dr. Barry Katz wrote that the priest "expressed regret over the effects that his actions have had upon himself, but no remorse for the effect that his actions have had upon the minors with whom he was involved."

After pleading guilty, Father Kuhl apologized to a judge for "the hurt and the embarrassment that I have caused so many other people." He also said he had devoted his life to helping others, and had learned in church-sponsored therapy "that there was one person I never did seem to try to help, and that was myself."

U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson initially sentenced Father Kuhl to a short prison term followed by house arrest. But she later reduced the penalty, over the objections of prosecutor Donna Krappa, to five years of probation and ordered the priest to "adhere to the program requirements at Trinity Retreat."

In advocating probation, Father Groeschel represented himself to the court as a counseling psychologist, Ms. Krappa said in an interview. New York state officials said he has never had the license generally required for use of that title. Using the title without a license is a misdemeanor, state officials said.

"I think that the judge would have been interested in this fact," Ms. Krappa said, "when she considered the quality of treatment Father Kuhl was receiving through the archdiocese."

If the state knows Fr. G has no license (per Mr.Egerton) and he is practicing as something he is not, why hasn't he been arrested?

No. It's not "per Mr. Egerton." It's per Ms. Kappa, the prosecutor.

Typically, people are not arrested for misdemeanors. However, if a victim of Fr. Kruhl sues his diocese, I suspect Fr. Groeschel will be asked about his credentials.

the author doesn't say the interview requests came from him or the newspaper he writes for. Kind of a weird omission.

I'm not sure I see the significance of this. Egerton is writing the story; I'd bet a considerable sum of money that it was he who made the request.

And do we know what the victim was doing to the priest?

Not anything near as horrible as what the priest was doing to the victim.

It was understood that the abusers could be treated and cured until very recently.

Wait a minute. Is this about pedophilia or homosexuality? I thought these guys were homosexuals preying on young men. At least, that's what I read in Michael Rose, and here on Free Republic. It is pedophilia that cannot be cured. Homosexuals, on the other hand, can be changed, or so I read, or encouraged to remain chaste.

Was Groeschel treating pedophilia or homosexuality?

Did Groeschel think he had cured these men of their homosexual tendencies?

You should ask Ms. Thompson when you call her (I hope you do) tomorrow. Who knows? I always thought most psychology was bunk regardless of who was practicing it. Accepted psychology always seems to be revamped each decade. But then again, I'm not that great practicing emotional and spiritual charity most of the time.

He would come out of it with more integrity if he just admitted to making some bad mistakes in these instances, or challenge the reporters to give some proof if they are lying.

Prosecutors are casting wide nets to snare anybody who had anything to do with advising bishops to return predators to situations in which they could continue to prey. You can bet that if this pitiful little DMN writer has this stuff, plaintiffs lawyers like Roderick MacLeish have it too.

Fr. Groeschel will likely get the chance to confirm or refute these accusations, whether he wants to or not.

Depends on what they were curing, I guess. However, if it was homosexual abuse, I would presume that it could be cured (or so they may have thought) by spiritual means -- reinforcing the gift of celibacy. And wasn't pedophelia thought to be curable as well?

Seems like you are asking more than was posed in the article.

"Prosecutors are casting wide nets to snare anybody who had anything to do with advising bishops to return predators to situations in which they could continue to prey."

If that's the case I hope they get round to all those psyches who have returned abuser cops, teachers, social workers etc. into situations where they could re-offend as well. That would be a test of even-handedness in all of this!

However, I do think the hand of God is in all of this as well - and it is probably His intention that the Church be judged more severely than any other body.

Or maybe God just hates psychologists? ;)

Seems like you are asking more than was posed in the article.

The article poses that Groeschel advised bishops that certain men ought to be returned to the priesthood after having been accused of sexual abuse.

Why did he give them clearance, if they later abused again? It makes a difference whether this was pedophilia or homosexuality.

I suppose you think it is a coincidence that of all the psychologists and advisors who have screwed up on this stuff, this author chooses to single out Fr. Groeschel?

This is pretty transparent, and pathetic advocacy journalism, with a lot of paraphrasing.

I'm not saying that Fr. Groeschel is beyond criticism; I'm just saying that this is the only article thus far making these accusations (I've searched), and we are oddly not told how many cases he dealt with in which he was successful in preventing future abuse.

Horrible things were done in the past, and every effort to heal those who were abused must be made. That said, we have a pretty good policy on this stuff now, with a lay review board. The primary remaining issue is convincing the bishops to embrace the Church's teachings on sexual morality. This article seems to be an effort to prevent that, by calling into question the competency of those advocating same, and smearing conservatives with the alleged mistakes of one priest. It seems disingenous to me to pretend that the general moral atmosphere embraced by much of the Church in the 60s and 70s wasn't a major part of the cause of the ambivilent attitude some took towards these crimes.

I guess we'll see that Fr. Groeschel has to say, as he will probably respond to this at some point, I'm sure.

This article seems to be an effort to prevent that, by calling into question the competency of those advocating same, and smearing conservatives with the alleged mistakes of one priest.

You overrate the power of Brooks Egerton. He's a writer for a newspaper, for heaven's sake.

Let's not get paranoid here. If the Church's effort to spread the truth is going to be stymied by printing a factual article about one priest, then we're in real trouble.

Do you honestly think the chairman of the Texas chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists would not have an agenda directly opposed to staunch defenders of authentic Church teaching?!

I don't know, and it doesn't matter.

Is his article factual or not?

Ad hominems are supposed to be beneath Freepers, but apparently that fallacious method of argumentation is perfectly acceptable when it's used in favor of somebody we like.

Maybe you can answer why Groeschel approved putting men back into active ministry whom he knew to be active homosexuals, or pedophiles.

I don't know, and it doesn't matter.

Is his article factual or not?

So, you would accept as factual an article about President Bush's economic policy written by Bob Mulholland or Molly Ivins?

Think real hard now...it's the same thing.

This article is a hit piece.

I think you're right, but at the same time there are a lot of facts here. They're just not tied together well. The author and the editor need to go back to writing class. There's too many points all jumbled up.

I do think, though, that in the beginning, to be charitable, no one really knew what this sickness involved and that psychology and psychiatrists really did not have a cure. The church has learned that the hard way and the teachings on forgiveness were exploited along the way.

Maybe you can answer why Groeschel approved putting men back into active ministry whom he knew to be active homosexuals, or pedophiles.

Now this is over the top! Where and when have you read that Fr. G put men back into the ministry when he knew they were ACTIVE homosexuals or pedophiles???

The real point is that a homosexual journalist has chosen to target Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. out of all of the psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists involved -- with intent to hang him by characterizing him as responsible for several notorious and horrific cases. Father Groeschel was chosen deliberately, and these attack pieces by this homosexual journalist are meant to do nothing more than assassinate Fr. Groeschel's character.

Sorry, but I'm not buying it. I've had issues with Fr. Groeschel before, but I to call him 'complicit' with the sex abuse scandal is a stretch. Clearly, he's had one-on-one contact with many abusive priests and their victims in his role of psychologist, but to translate that into him being complicity? I'm content to wait to hear his side.

Also, isn't it ironic how easily you, sinkspur, buy into this article, while at the same time you were quick and vicious to condemn Michael Rose's very similar accounts in Goodbye, Good Men, EVEN BEFORE YOU READ IT!?

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