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| I feel the effects of child sexual abuse I suffered at the hands of Monsignor Daniel J. Martin every day. Sensing a call to the priesthood, I compartmentalized that abuse. As an educator, I know the procedures for the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse and have implemented them. As a whistleblower, I gave the names of over 100 parties to clergy sexual abuse to the 40th Pennsylvania Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in 2016. The need for redress of human rights violations by the Roman Catholic Church compels me to advocate for justice. While not a member of the bar, I assist lawyers and law enforcement in their pursuit of justice for victims of clergy and institutional sexual abuse. |
It defies credulity that Bishop Lawrence Persico has not included on his public disclosure list the names of Msgrs. William Hastings, James Burke, Robert Smith, or Fr. John Fischer for their role in the cover-up of these matters. They did not contact law enforcement any more than Bishop Alfred Watson, who is on that list. Theirs and the examples of Frs. Sean Kerins and Stephen Anderson show that Persico has private criteria for including and excluding names as he sees fit. Bishop Donald W. Trautman assigning Fr. Michael Barletta to serve in spite of Barletta's admission of molesting 25 children is at least on par with Bishop Watson's one instance of by-standing Barletta, yet Persico did not sanction him either. 01_08_2024 The 40th Pennsylvania Investigating Grand Jury page is updated to include additional information on Bishops Lawrence Persico and Lawrence Brandt, Jr., reporting and critique subsequent to release of the Report, and to fix broken links via The Internet Archive. All links are archived as .pdf files for historical purposes, and inquiries are welcomed. Associated packets of proprietary information on alleged abusers will soon become password protected. 01_01_2024 The Named Parties page is updated with this Relational Assignment History of Bishop Lawrence Persico, to include associates from his 12 years in seminary, 8 years as an official of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference where he became a master of public policy, and the abuse cases he managed in the Diocese of Greensburg for 23 years, all before becoming the Bishop of Erie. Persico's public explanation of why he did nothing about Fr. David Poulson nor communicated any risk to the people of Northwest Pennsylvania for six years after becoming Bishop of Erie: "I was trying to figure out where the light switches were." For more information on clergy and institutional abuse of children by priests and church officials in Erie and Greensburg go to my page on the 40th Pennsylvania Grand Jury. Updated 01_03_2024 to include a packet of assignment history, links to publicly named parties, and related co-workers (3 pages).12_01_2023 The Media page is updated to include a thorough chronological annotated bibliography covering my work, advocacy, and experience of the Church and its leaders. It is available by scrolling past the lists of reporters and outlets who have provided coverage. Timeline entries have been included to cover the 40th Pennsylvania Grand Jury and its aftermath, as well as major recent moments in the Church's handling of abuse matters. 10_27_2023 UPDATED: My Named Parties to include 193 parties to clergy and institutional sexual abuse of children, including Relational Assignment Histories on priests of the Diocese of Erie, all of whom are subjects of my testimony before the 40th Pennsylvania Investigating Grand Jury:
10_01_2023  07_25_2023 When I was a newly ordained priest in the Diocese of Erie, (then Fr.) Ed Lohse was someone I looked up to for how to be a priest; now his life is a guide to any priest who wants to be a bishop. His ecclesiastical career has been marked by apparent humility and competence, and these ensuing years he has built out his resume such that a protege of Bishop Donald Trautman is replacing a protege of Cardinal Donald Wuerl in Kalamazoo, both of whom figured prominently in the 2018 Report of the 40th Pennsylvania Investigating Grand Jury. Some of Bishop Ed’s confreres back home suggest he has a “Little Lord Fauntleroy” way about him; partly, as one with whom everything is known and in its place. And yet.Two priests of the Diocese of Erie (pp. 441-442 & pp. 472-474) who were credibly accused by the 40th PA Grand Jury continue to serve in that diocese and have access to children only because they fought to have their names redacted in the final Report. Never mind that that information provided to grand jurors came from the diocese’s files.  As Director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth Lohse seems to have raised no issue that they continue to serve, despite having worked alongside both, and knowing the allegations against them.In recent months, Fr. Sean Kerins was removed from the Diocese of Erie’s Public Disclosure List of accused parties to child sex abuse. Shortly after his ordination to priesthood, Kerins allegedly sent “inappropriate communications” via text to a minor student at his school. Kerins was removed by the RC Bishop of Erie and publicly listed on the diocese’s website. Police were contacted. A Florida Statewide Prosecution Report included Kerins as an accused party now living in that state. Following all this, Kerins recently went off the Diocese of Erie list with no explanation to the public, while Msgr. Lohse was Director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth.  Wherever Kerins is today, I wonder if Lohse regards children as safe around him. He seems fine with them being around the two other accused priests that he served with. Lohse carries a type of inheritance to Kalamazoo, and it will be interesting to see what the good people there end up getting from him. The Catholic Church keeps creating bishops out of priests of the Diocese of Erie despite its bleak history of protecting children. As far as Pope Francis, US Papal Nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre, and those who advise the Pope on his choice of bishops are concerned, they all certainly like Lohse’s resume. Multiple child protection policies, halting revelations, internal self-investigation—bureaucracy—managed in large part by Bishop-elect Lohse in the Diocese of Erie haven’t served the mandate of the Gospel he professes so much as given the public a partial truth and a false sense of security.  05_30_2023 The following is a partial list of cases I researched in preparation for filing in New York State. Fifty-nine alleged abusers are named in 86 complaints against 322 defendants including the Archdiocese of New York, Catholic dioceses of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Rockville Center, and other religious and institutional entities. While all have been prepared in anticipation of jury trial, many of these cases are wending their way through bankruptcy proceedings and will be settled by that means. Not included here are a number of cases that were taken on by other firms after my research was complete, or not filed due to extenuating and sometimes tragic circumstances. A complete list can be found at My Named Parties, and a fuller description of the work I contributed can be found in my Professional Portfolio. Where applicable, the following packets include filed complaints, and some assignment histories which I completed:
05_26_2023  A relational assignment history of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick reveals curious intersections suggested by the incomplete 2020 Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick. Among them was that of a fellow resident with McCarrick from his time living at the Sisters of Charity run New York Foundling Hospital. Begun as an orphanage and ministering to children and families in need, from 1980-87 McCarrick had a residence at the Foundling Hospital in Manhattan, which he kept after becoming the first bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen NJ, and then for a year as Archbishop of Newark. McCarrick is understood to have sexually abused seminarians at this location throughout this time period. The Archdiocese of New York was responsible for McCarrick’s room and board until Pope John Paul II assigned him to Metuchen. His ability to keep an apartment at the Foundling Hospital was always by arrangement with the Sisters of Charity of New York, even more so after concluding his ministry in New York in 1981. Everyone would love a pad in Gotham for when they drop into the city, but how common is this for former bishops of the Archdiocese, and why did the sisters judge this arrangement to be appropriate? Msgr. James Cassidy, “a respected priest psychologist and healthcare administrator in the Archdiocese of New York”, was brought into a 1996 investigation of McCarrick involving the Foundling Hospital conducted by the Diocese of Metuchen and Archdiocese of New York. This investigation was at the behest of Cardinal John J. O’Connor, who seemed to want to insulate Pope John Paul II from McCarrick's misdeeds. Here is a significant nexus of responsibility for JPII and his priest-secretary, now Archbishop Emeritus of Krakow Poland, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, who is implicated in the McCarrick matter. It is in the institutional Church’s interest to keep any sense of these hierarchs as enablers of abuse or bystanders enshrouded in clouds of obfuscation and double-talk. The McCarrick Report was careful to omit Cassidy’s residence in this period, and then to redact it, although it is discoverable without the Church's help. Dziwisz denies any culpability and remains in the good graces of Pope Francis.  While serving multiple hospital ministries for the Archdiocese of New York, Msgr. James Cassidy resided with McCarrick at the Foundling Hospital from 1980 through at least 1982. Cassidy’s residence from 1982-86 is not as clear as he continued serving the same agencies until he took up residence at Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center in 1986. From 1982-86 Cassidy has no residence listed in official directories, and is indexed at “Administrative Departments”. The Archdiocese of New York can certainly clarify how long Cassidy and McCarrick had apartments together and the nature of the arrangements for both. The Sisters of Charity of New York could too, as they reckon with their place in history.The Church cannot escape the implication they created, that even now, after multiple state and government investigations, the Church and its bishops continue to show the inbred nature of their internal investigations. The best hope for clarity and redress is for more reports and more study of what has been revealed. Other states have given the public windows into facets of the McCarrick phenomenon. It remains to be seen what New York’s Attorney General will do and say on the matter as investigations of arch/dioceses statewide reportedly continue. 05_08_2023 After priest laundering by bishops became the norm, it shouldn’t be surprising that its vestiges appear in the present. Abuse of children by clerics and coverup by bishops is baked into the DNA of the church and the ways it interacts with society. Seminaries are on the hook for this tragedy as they turn out men who are formed to be docile vis-a-vis their bishops and institutional leadership, while graduating men prepared to evangelize church-goers with a skill set that has frightening parallels to grooming for abuse.
Erie diocesan Communications Director Anne-Marie Welsh’s updates about changes in perpetrator status and the diocesan abuse policy, “a living document” as they call it, are presently lacking in the Kerins case. This as she has denied my claim that she helped cover up abuse by lay teacher Denise Geitner Myers at Elk County Catholic High School in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. Obfuscation by Welsh, Clergy Personnel Director Fr. Nicholas Rouch, and Bishop Lawrence Persico led to the diocesan offices being raided by state OAG agents with a search warrant, after diocesan officials paid lip service to a grand jury subpoena.
After being fired from two high schools, Hudock was hired in 2011 as an editor for Liturgical Press in Collegeville MN. He self-reports “hundreds” of projects there until he "resigned" in response to allegations detailed in the 2018 PA Grand Jury Report. It is not surprising that a pretender could parlay the patronage and recommendation of a bishop into a job like that, or that he should be fired when news about Hudock came to light.
Some who have featured Hudock’s writing have pointed out the flaws of PA’s grand jury system, but the fundamental flaw is that it has little teeth. Kerins isn’t named there since his case came to light after its work had concluded. Nonetheless, credibly accused redacted parties in the Diocese of Erie and elsewhere remain in ministry, with ready access to children, and accused priests who do leave still find church work where they gain acclaim. That is another stumbling block for victims who should be given preferential consideration, not abusers.
The following allowed themselves to be identified, at least partially in the PA 40th Grand Jury Report: Judicial Vicar Mark L. Bartchak (8x), and Clergy Personnel Directors Glenn R. Whitman (11x) and Robert J. Smith (102x). They consented to being associated with abusers in the grand jury report, yet should still be questioned whether they are part of any remaining redactions. They certainly know more than what is attributed to them in the Report. Whitman was living with Fr. Daniel J. Martin at St. George Church & School when Martin openly molested me in the den of the rectory. 
Judicial Vicar John Beal and Clergy Personnel Director Robert L. Brugger are noted in The Report as cc’d on abuse-related communications once each in letters written by others, but are not otherwise noted as having given testimony to the grand jury. They should say publicly whether they are redacted parties. Similarly, the Executive Director of The Bradley H. Foulk Children’s Advocacy Center of Erie County (PA), Michael T. Gaines, was a priest and Clergy Personnel Director for the Diocese of Erie alongside Bishop Donald W. Trautman, Vicar General Robert Smith, Chancellor Lawrence E. Brandt, Judicial Vicar Mark Bartchak and Vice-Chancellor Edward Lohse and other still-serving confreres. On track to become Vicar General before leaving ministry, he is not mentioned once in the report. It is incumbent upon Mike, especially given his present role, to state publicly whether he is a redacted party in any section of the grand jury Report. These were also not identified at all in the Report: Vicar General Edward Lohse, long-time Clergy Personnel Board VP Richard G. Mayer, and Lawrence E. Brandt (only mentioned by his bishop successor). Brandt is an especially curious case because his original diocesan sponsorship was not Erie, as sometimes suggested. What influenced Brandt's circuitous route to service in the Diocese of Erie? Does he have any correspondence which would clarify his transition from Vatican diplomatic service to working for the first time in the Diocese of Erie? By process of elimination, Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt is a redacted party in the Report of the PA 40th Grand Jury. He should give the public an account of where he is present in the redacted portions pertaining to the Erie and Greensburg dioceses. Relational assignment histories in reference to the above:
Relevant assignment histories from this time period:
01_23_2023The Summer of 1989 and the Beginning of My Seminary Career: Unknown to me while applying to St. Mark Seminary in the Diocese of Erie in the Summer of 1989, Fr. Lawrence T. Speice had interceded with the Pennsylvania State Police in 1976 to keep seminarian Michael Amy from being arrested for fondling several children at Camp Notre Dame (PA 40th IGJ, p. 392), which was owned by the diocese. Speice had been a friend of Fr. Daniel J. Martin, whose abuse I had recently ended. Speice had written to me for several years, and I was finally heeding what I perceived as a calling from God. Speice was to be my Rector; in charge of most facets of my life, in God’s name. I spent that summer preparing to become a seminarian, caring for Emeritus Bishop Alfred M. Watson, and hanging out with Barry Hudock, who was staying at St. Mark’s for the summer. Barry would become my classmate in the seminary and in the priesthood, and would eventually be identified as a child sex abuser (PA 40th IGJ, p. 416). While locking the seminary late one night, Barry and I heard a loud crash, then saw (now) Fr. Mike Amy taking an underage boy to his car and leaving. Amy was staying in the seminary penthouse. He was teaching high school with two other abuser priests at the time, and had just become Administrator of St. Callistus Church in Kane PA; following Fr. Joseph Jerge, who had been removed as Pastor and sent to St. Luke’s Institute for treatment. Here are several of us with Speice at St. Marks in the following spring semester of 1990:
Missing from this picture is Fr. Mark Nowak who, with Speice, allowed Amy to stay at the seminary while it was in session that 1989-90 academic year. Nowak was a director of our priestly formation who lived in our residence. After being released from treatment in 1989, Jerge was allowed into St. Mark’s to visit seminarians from his former parish who he had molested. Take a moment and read that again. And then take a deep breath before continuing. Fr. Michael Amy then comes along and visits them in this same time period under the auspices of now being their pastor. It’s a wonder he didn’t run into Jerge in the hall. Portions of my Grand Jury testimony and exhibits on these matters:
Amy and Jerge are the only identified Erie abusers from the 40th PA Grand Jury with portions of their profiles redacted in the final Report. There were so many witnesses to this dynamic, and to sexual abuse related to Camp Notre Dame, who have yet to speak out on this and other matters. Many of them are now serving as priests in active ministry, and their experience of seminary would be worth hearing about. 01_16_2023 The following priests of the Diocese of Erie are among those central to my public testimony regarding child sexual abuse. They are presented here relationally to each other, to me in some cases, and to other priests they have served with. This presentation alleges nothing but publicly discoverable whereabouts, except where explicitly noted:
11_02_2022 New posts include updates to my list of Named Parties, and assignment histories I completed which have been referenced in the media or in court filings:
10_25_2022 While giving retired bishops who engaged in coverup a slap on the wrist, NY AG Letitia James leaves multiple questionable fiduciary overseers in position as heads of parishes, in active ministry, in control of charitable donations, and able to publicly represent the Church. This sends the message that if you conceal the abuse of children and vulnerable adults you can still be in a parade, stand at the altar, and control charitable donations in a parish. The AG’s original Complaint, filed almost two years ago, named 25 alleged perpetrators to illustrate the Diocese of Buffalo’s failure to respond to complaints of clergy sexual abuse. Survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Buffalo were led to believe that this state AG would eventually release more than just 25 names already identified by public means. The oversight imposed today on the Diocese of Buffalo is one laudable result of a four year investigation, and was agreed to by retained counsel for the Diocese of Buffalo. That firm was fired by another diocese for being too aggressive with victims of clergy sexual abuse. If this action of the Office of New York Attorney General is the last thing we hear about their inquiry into the Diocese of Buffalo I fear it will be regarded as a dereliction of duty. 10_12_2022 A sober analysis suggests 1,158 alleged Catholic Church sex abusers, mostly priests and religious brothers, have been named in California under that state’s AB 218 statute of limitations look back window, which closes the last day of this year. Each of these numbers represents a named party. It is not too late to contact an attorney, even if it means naming someone for the first time. Data shows there are many more unspoken allegations in California, to a degree not yet seen but believable.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the past has released numbers of alleged abusers which exceeded those publicly reported; their present self-reported numbers and names, however, are unreliable. The Archdiocese of San Francisco is one of few dioceses in the country to have not recently reported anything substantive relating to this tragedy. With the fourth largest number of priests of any diocese in the United States, San Francisco should be seeing exponentially more reports of institutional church sexual abuse of children than most anywhere. The California CVA window is bringing things into clearer focus, as in PA, NY and NJ, but slowly and inconsistently. From my research perspective, the California inquiries of the past two years have fallen statistically short in comparison to other US dioceses. Revelations have been startling, but we await more information, principally from civil filings. Northern California dioceses have not matched the revelations in Los Angeles or other significant US dioceses. The Catholic Church in California is experienced and has learned from dioceses elsewhere. Many cases are tied to behaviors experienced and learned by future abusers in the seminaries of California. If the Church in California is as sick as its secrets, then look at the blackmail culture among priests and bishops which has driven these crimes underground. The issues we have seen coming out of seminaries in the east are perceived to be more pronounced in California, but the Church is also now more savvy. A comparison to all other US Latin Rite dioceses and their bishops, as well as per capita crime statistics is available by request. 10_04_2022 These relational assignment histories I completed of priests of the Diocese of Erie comprise a partial list of parties to abuse named by a.) my grand jury testimony, b.) by the Diocese of Erie, and/or by c.) the Report of the 40th PA Investigating Grand Jury (2018). They show alleged and named parties they served with, and are reflected in today's update to my named parties:
09_21_2022 New posts include assignment histories I completed which have been referenced in the media or in court filings. Priests and bishops including:
08_21_2022 Welcome to my work, and some really horrible revelations. Each priest that molested a child looked through a confessional screen at members of the church faithful who just wanted to be forgiven for their sins. Strinkingly often, priests have taken advantage of their power and position to prey upon the vulnerable, young and old. This site is an attempt to peer through the screen and tell the truth that resides on the other side. Check this space for news and topical comment, and see this as a place to look further. I am presently accepting research consulting work with lawyers, courts, and law enforcement on these issues.
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response to predators
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| © 2024 James G. Faluszczak | All Rights Reserved |
This morning in Rome, in the Church of St. Peter in Chains. Newly-created Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Papal Nuncio to the United States, concelebrated Mass with disgraced Cardinals Donald Wuerl, who resigned as Archbishop of Washington because of the Report of the PA 40th Investigating Grand Jury, and Roger Mahoney, who is not permitted to officially represent the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and who had to resign as Papal Legate to the closing of the 150th Anniversary of the Diocese of Scranton in 2018, the year of the PA Grand Jury Report. 
Fr. Sean Kerins is apparently eligible to minister to children again as his case was 
Beyond surprising—shocking—is that by Hudock’s present telling, multiple Catholic authors and publishing houses including Liturgical Press 
Although most numbers of sex abusers presented by dioceses to the public are changeable, the following have at some point self-reported a higher number than which has been publicly reported: Fresno, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton. Nonetheless, every California diocese remains ripe for investigation.
