The following is a statement from Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Bishop of Santa Rosa Diocese:
In the name of the Church, I want, first of all to express my sincere sorrow that so many have been subjected to the evil actions of priests and bishops. Thus, I apologize again, especially for any who have been subjected to injury at the hands of the clergy named below. While the Church has taken some very significant actions over the past twenty years, those actions are significant in terms of the present and future protection of children. However, they do not touch the very real trauma which the evil actions of deacons, priests and bishops have caused in the lives of thousands of young people in our nation. My primary goal in releasing the names of accused priests and deacons who served in Santa Rosa in this public fashion is to give to all the victims of clerical sexual abuse the assurance that they have been heard and that the Church is very much concerned for their well-being and healing. It is my deepest prayer and hope that this release of names in a consolidated fashion says to any of you who are victims, we have heard you, we believe you, we affirm you in your trauma and we want to help with a healing process.
Bringing difficult things to light is painful. It is painful for victims of childhood sexual abuse, for the People of God, for our priests, and for me. I know of no other way to bring light to this distressing moment in the Church.
I want to call attention to one portion of the list: the years when the abuses occurred. This is included when the information is available. Sadly, we have had sexual abuse events as late as 2006 and 2008 and I find that most troubling. However, the vast majority of the abuses occurred decades ago. This is not complete proof that the Church is making progress in eliminating this great tragedy, but I find this to be a sign of hope. The dates during which an individual served in the Diocese of Santa Rosa and present status, when known, are also provided. I have divided this list into four different sets identified by the numbers in brackets. (1) Indicates those whose names were released officially by the Diocese in January of 2004. (2) Designates those priests whose names have become a part of a public record, mostly by way of public expressions in the media or on the internet. (3) Identifies those, not otherwise named, whose accusations are deemed by the Diocesan Review Board to be well founded and credible. (4) Designates the names of accused priests who had varying degrees of connection with the Diocese of Santa Rosa and who had claims brought against them in other places. Seventeen of those named here have no known allegations against them during the time of their service or presence in the Diocese of Santa Rosa. The list below does not include any accusations directly associated with Hanna Center since that agency has its own HR, Screening and Reporting Protocols.
Full story, and link to list of names, at Diocese of Santa Rosa.
Two of those perverted priests were teachers of mine when I was a young man. They were prominent and known for their work with young people. They were the hip, liberal priests about whom most everyone raved. One was not permitted to raise questions about the orthodoxy of their faith or morals. They were both subsequently convicted of crimes. Men with deep-seated sexual perversions should not be admitted to the seminary, as the Church teaches. And, that’s true regardless of what Rev. James Martin SJ says about that.
May we really work to protect children and vulnerable adults.