Diocese of San Diego releases abuse documents on 48 priestsSan Diego, Calif.
Oct 27, 2010 / 10:09 pm
The release follows the September 2007 settlement of $198.1 million between the Diocese of San Diego, the Diocese of San Bernardino, religious orders and 144 victims. Diocesan lawyers fought to limit the disclosure for three years, citing personal and medical record privacy laws.The Catholic Diocese of San Diego has released documents detailing the diocese’s handling of sexually abusive priests. The documents are often decades old and mainly involve priests who have since died, but show church officials’ response to some allegations.
A retired Superior Court judge ordered the release of thousands of pages of documents on Oct 22. Most of the documents are routine reports and correspondence with only a fraction showing abuse allegations or the response of church superiors.
According to the Los Angeles Times, some of the relevant documents show officials ignoring abuse victims and their families or calling them liars. They show that officials transferred accused priests without contacting the police and also found parishes for priests transferred from elsewhere in the country to avoid allegations.
None of the 48 priests involved is still in the diocese and only six are still living.
One priest, Fr. Robert Nikliborc, served time in federal prison for failing to file income taxes. He was accused of living a double life as a wealthy married man in Palm Springs. He was later accused of molesting several youths under his care at a school for boys in Banning.
In 1976 the then-Bishop of San Diego Leo T. Maher wrote to the then-apostolic nuncio Archbishop Jean Jadot saying that Fr. Nikliborc seemed to have “a dual personality.” At times he is “charming and most pleasing” and can easily win others to his views. If one does not agree with him, he is “really vicious, very vindictive.”
“I can say in all honesty he is a liar and a very dishonest person. … I do not believe he should be allowed to function as a priest,” Bishop Maher wrote.
Archbishop Jadot replied: "I realize that you will have to do something. My only suggestion is that you try and avoid as much harmful publicity for the church as possible."
The priest continued to serve at St. Anne Catholic Church in San Diego. When he asked to retire over 20 years later, his superiors asked him to stay on.
The Los Angeles Times also cited a 2002 letter from Bishop Robert Brom to Fr. John Keith, whom the diocese sent to psychiatric treatment a decade earlier. Noting that since 1993 several adults had alleged that the priest had molested them as children, the bishop said Fr. Keith could no longer celebrate Mass or present himself as a priest.
The diocese continued to allow him to live in a facility for retired priests and helped pay his bills. Bishop Brom encouraged the priest to “lead a life of prayer and penance as reparation for your past misconduct.”
Fr. Gustavo Benson, who served in the diocese in the 1970s, pled no contest to accusations of molesting two boys in San Bernardino, which was formerly part of the San Diego diocese. The priest agreed to counseling. According to City News Service, he has been serving in the Diocese of Tijuana for more than a decade and is the only priest in the documents known to be in service.
David Clohessy, a national leader of the group Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP), said the disclosure was “tremendously healing and validating” for victims.
Lawyers Anthony DeMarco and Irwin Zalkin, who sought the documents’ release, said there are other documents involving both the 48 priests and possibly another six priests that are not yet public.
EWTN News contacted the diocese for comment but did not receive a reply by deadline.
According to City News Service, the Diocese of San Diego released a statement saying it has voluntarily complied with “all aspects of the global settlement reached in 2007.”
“It is the on-going hope of the Diocese that all victims will continue on the path toward healing and reconciliation," the diocese added.
