By Bill Roberts
Idaho Statesman
June 13, 2010
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/06/13/1229048/ex-idahoan-says-priest-sexually.html
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| “What has caused me the most pain is the bishop’s very poor response. ... All I wanted was some kind of resolution that would protect others and would make the church stronger.” Bob Welch, 50, a Catholic and former Idahoan who now lives near San Antonio, Texas. |
The Rev. Joseph da Silva, the Catholic priest accused of harassment in the early 1980s, now sits on panels that review sexual misconduct allegations against Idaho priests in the Boise diocese.
Idaho Bishop Michael Driscoll, who apologized to alleged victim Bob Welch in an August 2009 letter, removed Monsignor da Silva earlier this year from the diocesan list of contacts for people who want to file allegations of clerical sexual misconduct involving minors.
"That's one thing Welch wanted to do," Driscoll said. "He felt it would be wrong for Joe (da Silva) to be the one to get the reports."
Driscoll did not remove da Silva from his top diocesan job as the vicar general for clergy and parishes, overseeing clergy education and helping new priests establish themselves. Nor did the bishop remove da Silva from the boards that investigate sexual misconduct.
Da Silva says categorically that he did nothing wrong.
Da Silva, also pastor at Risen Christ Catholic Community on Lake Hazel Road in Boise with 550 families, is highly respected among Idaho Catholics. Welch's allegation is the only complaint of sexual misconduct against da Silva ever brought to the diocese's attention.
Welch, who says da Silva made repeated sexual comments and once lured Welch to masturbate him by hand, said da Silva should be removed as vicar general.
Moreover, said Welch, Bishop Driscoll responded badly in this case and ought to resign.
"He is in no position to be protecting his flock," Welch said.
Welch isn't the first critic of Driscoll's handling of sexual misconduct allegations.
In 2005 Driscoll was chastised for not moving quickly enough to remove a deacon at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Boise who had viewed child pornography. And he was criticized for his role in protecting abusive priests as a Catholic official in southern California 30 years ago.
Driscoll issued written apologies for both actions and told the Statesman following the 2005 child pornography case that he would be more decisive in the future.
Welch said he first complained about da Silva to a priest in Idaho Falls in 1982; he doesn't remember exactly what he told the priest then. He said he doesn't believe anything was done because he never heard back from church officials.
The matter came to Driscoll's attention in January 2009, when Welch complained to the Boise diocese after learning da Silva had been named vicar general five years before.
Driscoll ordered an investigation by an outside agency and the Archdiocese of Portland. He declined to give the Idaho Statesman a copy of the investigation report.
WELCH SAYS HE WAS PRESSURED FOR SEX
Welch was in his early 20s when he volunteered at St. John's Catholic Student Center near Idaho State University in 1981-1982, living alone in the basement of the priest's residence.
He said da Silva pressed him for eight months to have sex. Welch said the priest once told him he was fantasizing about sex with Welch while he was engaged in homosexual sex with a minister from another religion. Welch said da Silva repeatedly told him he thought Welch was gay, and that da Silva referred to Welch as his "10," a reference Welch said da Silva explained was the scale by which people rate each others' desirability.
Welch says he is not gay and has been married to his wife, Ana, a former nun, for nearly 20 years.
Da Silva said all the allegations are false.
"I have said in the past, since this arose, that I don't recall ever saying that," da Silva said. "When I was asked to clarify that, I said the reason I don't recall saying it is because I would never have said that. I didn't say that."
In a letter to Driscoll in January 2009, Welch wrote that, while on a trip to the Oregon coast, da Silva lured Welch into "engaging him in manual masturbation." He said da Silva pulled the car in which they were riding off the road. Da Silva was in the front seat and Welch in the back, Welch said.
"I committed this act out of confusion and anger, feeling that if I gave him something he would just leave me alone," Welch wrote.
If Welch masturbated Joe da Silva, Bishop Driscoll said, "that makes Joe the victim on that occasion."
Welch said Driscoll's response is "unbelievable."
"That a 70-year-old man with as much experience as he has working with people would think that the 21-year-old who is the volunteer in the parish somehow coerced a 33-year-old priest. It's ridiculous."
WELCH LEAVES POCATELLO, THEN RETURNS
Welch said da Silva's attentions were so persistent that he left as a volunteer of the Catholic student center in 1982. He continued his volunteer work in Jerome. But he returned to the center in about 1983 when he enrolled at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He worked as a church janitor.
This time he lived with a roommate in the center basement across the street from da Silva's residence for about eight months. Welch said on his return trip to Pocatello he set clear boundaries with da Silva and was not bothered by him.
A couple who lived at the center in 1983 while Welch was there the second time saw nothing that would back up Welch's allegations, and they were shocked to hear them, said Robin O'Keeffe, who now lives in Chicago with her husband Michael.
The O'Keeffes lived at the center from 1983 to 1986 while Robin's husband worked in the Catholic campus ministry.
In the late 1980s, Welch left Idaho and moved to Texas. He had no contact with da Silva for more than two decades.
But in early 2009, da Silva said he began receiving e-mails from Welch, and the two wrote back and forth. Subjects ranged from priest celibacy to family, according to e-mails given to the Idaho Statesman by Welch. But da Silva stopped corresponding with Welch about the time Welch wrote the bishop making detailed accusations against the vicar general.
"At that point I said this is pretty crazy and so I just stopped," da Silva said.
Da Silva doesn't understand why Welch believes he did these things.
"As I remember him, he seems quite fine," da Silva said. "I don't know where it comes from."
DRISCOLL APOLOGIZES
In an August 2009 letter to Welch after he had the allegations investigated, Driscoll wrote, "I ask your forgiveness and your forgiveness for the actions of my priest. This should never have occurred."
In the 2009 letter, Driscoll also wrote that da Silva told him he is "living a chaste life appropriate to his vocation and calling as a priest." Driscoll wrote that he has looked into da Silva's eyes and believes him.
Welch said, and the diocese confirms, that Driscoll told Welch that da Silva would probably never become bishop.
Driscoll told the Statesman his apology to Welch is not a validation of Welch's account. "I have learned over the years that if anybody makes an accusation against one of the priests and I am the bishop, I will apologize for it right off the top," the bishop said. "I will then talk to the priest about the incident."
The letter with Driscoll's apology, however, was clearly written after he'd talked to the priest and after he'd had the allegations investigated. Driscoll declined further explanation.
HEARING WELCH'S STORY
Among the first people to hear Welch's account of his encounters with da Silva was the Rev. Bill Taylor, now a 71-year-old retired Catholic priest.
Taylor was at the parish in Jerome in 1982 when Welch left Pocatello. Welch told him only the story about da Silva saying he was a "10," Taylor said. "He did not go into any detail."
In retrospect, Taylor said, he wishes he would have asked Welch more questions.
Taylor believes Welch is in a lot of pain over the events he said happened at Pocatello.
The two have corresponded and Taylor said Welch tries to let the whole issue go, then comes back to it. "He's told me several times 'I'm done,' " Taylor said.
Rob Genther, a recent friend of Welch's in Texas, thinks Welch should drop the matter. Genther believes Catholics should support their priests.
"I told him it was many years ago," said Genther, who attends Catholic church with Welch in Converse, Texas. "I think you are wrong to pursue that at this late of a date."
Genther believes Welch is honest but has his doubts about Welch's story: "Over all these years, no one but Bob has made any allegations against this priest."
Another friend, Guy Hanson, believes Welch. He's known Welch since the two worked together at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in the late 1990s.
"He's not a guy who gets a kick out of trying to get some notoriety," Hanson said.
SEARCHING FOR HEALING
The Boise diocese offered to pay for counseling for Welch, and Driscoll offered to arrange a meeting between Welch, da Silva and himself.
Welch went to a retreat in Philadelphia last October that he said cost the church about $1,500. He said it helped him understand how angry he was at Driscoll for not being more decisive in his case.
Welch declined to meet with da Silva because he said he is over his anger at the vicar general.
But he wants accountability.
"They just want me to go away, I guess," Welch said. "I want to do what I need to do as a responsible Catholic and then I want to be able to let this go."
Bill Roberts: 377-6408
Contact: broberts@idahostatesman.com
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