For One Key Bishop, Past Problems Linger

Official on board that drafted policy faces anger over priests he managed

By Jon Bonné for MSNBC
Originally published by MSNBC, June 14, 2002

Like many of his fellow Roman Catholic bishops, John Myers faced repeated claims by his parishioners that priests in his charge in Peoria, Ill., had molested them. Unlike other priests, Myers was one of eight bishops chosen to draft the U.S. church's new policy on sexual abuse. Now, as details of abuse claims in the Peoria diocese become public, many of his former parishioners are questioning Myers' service, and his legacy.

Myers was the bishop of Peoria, Ill., until last year, when he became the archbishop of Newark, N.J.

Bishop Daniel Jenky took over the Peoria Archdiocese in April and almost immediately expelled eight priests because of the sexual abuse claims.

Of those, two had faced allegations dating back several years: John Anderson, who was pulled from a parish post in 1993 over allegations of misconduct, and Norman Goodman, a former pastor in Lincoln, Ill., who was initially pulled from public ministry in 1997.

Anderson's accuser asked only that the priest be removed from parish work; he spent the next nine years in administrative posts within the diocese. The original allegations "weren't necessarily criminal, they were just creepy," said Kate Kenny, spokeswoman for the Peoria diocese. Additional allegations prompted Jenky to expel Anderson.

As for Goodman, a dozen men accused him in 1997 of abuse; they eventually filed a lawsuit and reached a $2 million, largely secret settlement.

Jenky asked all eight priests to stop performing any priestly duties in public, to stop wearing the collar and to stop using titles of reverence usually given to priests.

The emerging details about abuse and the recent expulsions don't sit well with many Catholics in this central Illinois diocese. "It definitely raised suspicions on Myers because it all occurred on his clock, and he's just sitting here saying he knows nothing," said Mary Graham-Buxton, a regular churchgoer who teaches computer science at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. "It's kind of amazing to all of us."

ANGER FROM VICTIMS

The expulsions are at least some comfort, if belated, to many of the victims and their families. But many remain incensed at Myers and his handling of abuse cases over the past decade.

"He covered his own ass, and he covered the church's ass," said Ronald Koenigs of Cambridge, Ill., whose son Daniel was molested nearly 200 times in the 1980s by a priest, Francis Engels, who acknowledged the abuse and gave up his priestly duties last year.

Koenigs and his wife, Theresa, describe their rage when they found out last year that Engels, after being pulled from their local parish, would return to priestly duties, filling in to celebrate Mass with a chaperone to monitor him. They called the diocese repeatedly, without getting a response. Finally, Theresa Koenigs said, she called the diocesan office and offered a sort of ultimatum.

"I told this lady that she better have someone call me back within 10 minutes or I was going to the newspapers. … They called back within five minutes," she recalled. "I was so angry they put this monster back on the altar."

After hearing the Koenigs' complaint, the diocese rescinded its plans to return Engels to priestly duty.

Myers, a Church conservative and outspoken anti-abortion activist, has insisted repeatedly that he did what he could at the time, and never hedged on taking action against abusive priests. "The actions that Bishop Jenky has taken were based on information I never had available to me," he told the Chicago Tribune. "If I had known, I would have acted like he acted."

Myers, whose motto as archbishop is: Mysterium ecclesiae luceat ("Let the mystery of the Church shine forth"), also said he established clear policies on handling such cases and followed them.

'STONEWALLED'?

Those explanations fall short for many victims. "It's not so much that he went to reinstate Engels. It's more about the comments he's made," said Daniel Koenigs, at 33 still an active Catholic who counsels abuse victims. "He has not shown me any ability to admit he's made mistakes in the past."

Though Jenky almost immediately set up an independent commission to evaluate abuse allegations, a former aide to Myers told the Tribune that the idea of such a commission was never discussed during his time in Peoria.

Another Engels accuser from 1992, Michael Emery, said Myers only acted against the priest when he and his family told their story to the media. "I would say we got stonewalled," Emery told the Tribune.

Also in question is Myers' choice of diocese officials, who have largely said they knew nothing of the alleged misconduct until the allegations that surfaced this year. One such priest facing scrutiny is Monsignor Albert Hallin, who was appointed by Myers as head of the vicariate of Champaign, Ill. Hallin has said he knew seven of the priests recently ousted, and supervised two. Responding to the accusers and their claims, some of which dated to the 1960s, Hallin recently told the Champaign News-Gazette: "You have to deal with it somewhere along the line and find a way to bring it to closure. … Twenty-five years—is that a reality? I don't think so. And 40 years … were you sitting on a toadstool? Get a life."

HOPES FOR HEALING

For many in the central Illinois diocese, Jenky's arrival has marked a long-awaited chance for serious reform. The diocese frames its new bishop's role as one of removing blemishes from the church for the larger good of the faithful.

"I think … his hope is, 'Let's get this behind us and then we can get on to the mission of what the Catholic church should be doing,'" said Kelly.

To that end, there has been a push for greater disclosure and frank talk among some parishes about what wrongs have transpired and how to confront them. That isn't to say there isn't a palpable anger in the diocese's 196 churches, but Jenky's stringent approach has struck a chord.

"You want to talk about zero tolerance, that's it," Graham-Buxton said. "The statement he made was that you will not call them reverend or father, and I thought, 'Boy that's strong language, and it's good strong language.'"

Even Ronald Koenigs, who still attends Mass, says that Jenky is "doing a fantastic job so far."

But for his wife, bitterness lingers about the pledges for reform made by Catholic officials across the nation, including the bishops meeting this week in Dallas to craft a new church policy on abusive priests.

"They're such liars," said Theresa Koenig. "The church isn't supposed to be like that."