Catholic Group Honors Alaskan with "Priest of Integrity Award" for Book

By Dermot Cole
Fairbanks News-Miner
September 15, 2012

http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-Catholic+group+honors+Alaskan+with+-priest+of+integrity+award-+for+book%20&id=20154333&instance=blogs_editors_desk

The Rev. Pat Bergquist, a Catholic priest from the Fairbanks diocese, is to receive the "Priest of Integrity Award" this weekend from a Catholic group at its Boston conference, recognizing his writings about the clergy sexual abuse scandal in his book "The Long Dark Winter's Night: Reflections of a Priest in a Time of Pain and Privilege."

A press release from the Voice of the Faithful says the award "acknowledges specific actions demonstrating the leadership needed in the Catholic Church."

Bergquist, the former parish priest at St. Raphael's Catholic Church in Fairbanks, is now pastor at Holy Mary of Guadalupe Parish, Healy; St. Theresa’s Parish, Nenana. He also works with those at Clear Air Force Base and the villages of Tanana and Huslia.

“Bergquist forces readers to reflect on the raw wounds exposed by the scandals with an uncompromising authenticity and brokenness, all within the context of universal truths spoken by prophets, poets, and in iconic passages of Scripture,” said Bill Casey, former VOTF trustee, who nominated Bergquist for the Priest of Integrity Award, the press release said.

“He speaks truth in a way that rarely escapes the lips of clergy (or laity), but his purpose is not judgment but a call to healing that can only come from grieving the truth which cannot be avoided. He prompts his brother priests to compassionate action, not fear, defensiveness, or timidity.”

Casey added, “Rare is the clergyman that has challenged fellow priests (and laity) to move beyond their own denial and resistance to healing the wounds of the sexual abuse scandal in our Church.”

The press release quoted a letter supporting Bergquist from Gloria Slagle, a parishioner in St. Raphael’s Parish where Bergquist was pastor from 1998 to 2010. “As things unfolded in the sex abuse crisis both nationally and in Alaska,” she wrote, “he (Bergquist) found himself caught between his own instincts for responding to someone in pain versus the manner in which the present leaders in the church were reacting.”

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - entry Catholic group honors Alaskan with priest of integrity award for book