Priest Defrocked for Sex Abuse Worked with Youths for Many Years

By David Smith
Journal and Courier
July 19, 2012

http://www.jconline.com/article/20120718/NEWS03/307180030/defrocked-priest-youths

Chuck Cichanowicz

A defrocked priest who recently signed an out-of-court agreement not to work with or around youths spent years as a mental health counselor in Lafayette, including a job counseling adolescents and sex offenders.

This week, three former Lafayette employers of Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz say they never received any complaints about his behavior during a 20-year period spanning 1989 to 2009.

Those years in Lafayette came after Cichanowicz’ tenure as a Franciscan friar for two churches in the Diocese of Gallup, N.M.

Cichanowicz, now living outside West Lafayette, recently reached out-of-court settlements with three Navajo men who claimed they were sexually abused by him when they were teens in the 1980s. The alleged victims claim they suffered mental anguish and other problems later in life as a result of the abuse. Neither Cichanowicz nor the other defendants, including the Catholic church and Franciscan order, admitted wrongdoing.

The settlement included financial payments, details of which have not been disclosed. Named as co-defendants were the Diocese of Gallup and the Franciscan Friars organizations in Albuquerque and Cincinnati.

The Navajo men filed their lawsuits in 2007 and 2009, years after Cichanowicz moved to Lafayette and began working in the Catholic diocese.

He pastored at St. Boniface and St. Lawrence churches in Lafayette from 1987 to 1991. According to a check of his personnel file, there were no allegations regarding his tenure at either church, a diocesan spokesman told the Journal & Courier Tuesday.

In 1991, Cichanowicz went to work as program director for New Directions Court Referral Center, providing alcohol counseling for court-referred clients. New Directions is no longer in business.

In 1994, the Franciscan order laicized or “defrocked” him.

In 1994, he was hired as a therapist by Community and Family Resource Center, later Bauer Family Resources. In 2000, he was promoted to coordinator of the SAFTIP program. The program provides treatment for adolescent and adult sexual offenders.

Pamela Biggs-Reed, executive director of Bauer Family Resources, said the center conducts background checks of all employees. She said there were no red flags before his hiring. She said CFRC serves minors and adults, but she did not know his caseload specifically. She said Cichanowicz resigned in 2003.

“We did not have any complaints at all,” she said Wednesday.

Cichanowicz, a state-licensed mental health and substance abuse counselor, worked for Alpine Counseling Center, an affiliate of Alpine Clinic in Lafayette, from 2003 until 2009.

Dr. Nizar El-Khalili, Alpine’s medical director, said Cichanowicz left in April 2009. “He never worked with youths. We never had any complaints,” he said Tuesday.

Says he can't say

Cichanowicz, contacted at his home by the Journal & Courier on Tuesday, declined to answer questions.

“I can’t make any comments. That’s part of the agreement. ... I wish I could,” he said.

As part of the settlement, Cichanowicz agreed to refrain from working directly with minors from the date of the agreement forward. That’s according to the plaintiffs’ attorney, Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn.

Noaker said there’s nothing in the settlement that prevents Cichanowicz from talking with the press: “The settlement says there are no confidentiality provisions in the settlement.”

A call to Cichanowicz’ attorney, Brian Nichols of Albuquerque, was not returned Wednesday.