By Patricio G. Balona
Daytona Beach News-Journal [Orlando FL]
January 31, 2007
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD04013107.htm
Catholic Church officials need to break their silence about a former Deltona priest accused of sexually abusing a man, said the national director of an organization supporting victims of abuse by the clergy.
n a Tuesday press conference in front of the diocesan chancery, members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized the bishop's handling of sexual abuse accusations against the Rev. Carlos Bedoya and a seminarian, David Estrada, on Oct. 4, 2006. The State Attorney's Office is investigating, and no one has been charged.
In a letter to SNAP, Bishop Thomas Wenski said based on the information provided to him when the accusations surfaced and the presumption of innocence, "I believe that my actions have been appropriate."
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| Martha Jean Lorenzo speaks at a press conference at the Diocese of Orlando on Tuesday. With her are Richard Heinkel, far left, David Clohessy and Bob Keane, right. Photo by Peter Bauer |
"I will take further action based on the outcome of law enforcement's investigation and any other factors uncovered," Wenski wrote.
Wenski also said officials of the Diocese of Orlando, which he leads, have offered counseling to the accuser and are cooperating with police.
SNAP National Director David Clohessy said Wenski and the diocese's chancellor, the Rev. Gregory Parks, should have given members of St. Clare Catholic Church in Deltona more details about why Bedoya left the church. They said it was due to "personal issues," Clohessy said.
"We in SNAP are very troubled by the deception on the part of church officials," Clohessy said outside the downtown Orlando chancery.
Neither Wenski in his letter to SNAP nor diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati would comment specifically about Clohessy's statements.
Bedoya, 44, is on administrative leave and has been relieved of all diocesan responsibilities and no longer lives on church property, Brinati said Tuesday. While the church is conducting its own investigation, it is fully cooperating with authorities to have the matter resolved, Brinati said.
"We don't know what is going to happen with (Bedoya)," Brinati said. "No decision has been made regarding his status."
Bedoya's attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Brinati said she could not find that Estrada was ever a seminarian in the United States.
But Clohessy, from St. Louis, demanded that Wenski apologize to the St. Clare congregation. He met with Tampa SNAP leader Martha Jean Lorenzo and members of the Ormond Beach Voice of the Faithful organization and demanded Wenski give transparency to the issue.
"What makes this scandal even worse is all the secrecy in which it is being kept," said Bob Keane, coordinator of Voice of the Faithful, adding that his organization and SNAP have a common interest. "Our goal is to achieve a greater role for the laity in the church."
The 35-year-old accuser told Volusia County sheriff's deputies that Bedoya invited him to lunch at the priest's home on St. Clare grounds while the accuser was working on Oct. 4, 2006. Bedoya told the man that Estrada, who had newly arrived from Colombia, would join them, a sheriff's report said.
When the accuser showed at Bedoya's residence with garlic bread and beer at 2 p.m., he told Bedoya and Estrada he would rather have his beer, but after repeated requests to have vodka cocktails, he consumed three, the report said. The victim said he passed out and when he regained his senses, Bedoya was holding him down on the recliner and Estrada performed a sex act on him, the report said.
Lois Mills, a parishioner at St. James Catholic Church in Orlando who knows Bedoya, said she is baffled by the reports of sexual abuse.
"He was a good priest and this makes me sad," Mills said.
E-mail: patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com
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