Columbus Diocese Urged to Search for Priest's Victims

By Joanne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch
December 19, 2012

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/12/18/priest_trial.html

An advocacy group is asking the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus to step up efforts to reach possible abuse victims after a priest on trial in Canada testified that he engaged in inappropriate sexual activity with boys while working in central Ohio decades ago.

Media outlets in British Columbia report that the Rev. Phillip Jacobs, 63, testified before a judge in Supreme Court in Victoria that he took at least three teen boys on overnight trips in Ohio intending to introduce them to masturbation.

According to the Saanich News, Jacobs told Justice J. Miriam Gropper on Monday that “the goal was for the person to become normal with this physiological act under my direction.”

“I would ask them what they know about their bodies ... whether they were curious ... eventually, if I could get some sense of curiosity, I would ask, ‘How much do you trust me? Can I explain it?’” he said.

Jacobs is accused in Canada of two counts of sexual interference involving a person younger than 14, one count of sexual assault and one count of touching a young person for a sexual purpose.

He testified on Monday that he “never” engaged in the alleged activities that have led to the charges, according to the Times Colonist of Victoria.

The charges date from September 1996 to June 2001, when Jacobs worked at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Sooke and at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Saanich, the Times Colonist reports.

Responding to Jacobs’ testimony, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is asking Columbus Bishop Frederick Campbell to determine whether Jacobs victimized children in central Ohio.

“Doing this is prudent, because it could bring forward more victims, witnesses, whistle-blowers and evidence that could help put Jacobs behind bars and away from kids,” said David Clohessy, national director of the network. “Doing this is right, because it could help end some of the shame, confusion, suffering and self-blame that child sex-abuse victims almost inevitably feel.”

Diocese spokesman George Jones said the diocese has actively sought information for years about possible incidents of abuse by Jacobs.

“As its ongoing policy, the Diocese of Columbus continues to encourage strongly anyone who may have experienced abuse from any clergy or others associated with the church to contact the diocesan victims-assistance coordinator ... as well as notify the appropriate civil authorities,” he said.

Jones said Jacobs served as associate pastor at St. Anthony Parish on the North Side from 1975 to 1979 and as an associate pastor at St. Philip the Apostle Parish on the East Side from 1979 to 1981. Following studies at Boston College from 1981 to 1986, he taught philosophy at the Pontifical College Josephinum on the Far North Side until 1993. He also was a priest in residence at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Westerville from 1986 to 1989.  

Jacobs was dismissed from his position at the Josephinum in the mid-1990s by Columbus’ then-Bishop James Griffin who has said Jacobs improperly touched a minor in a sexual manner. Griffin said the incident was not reported to police at the request of the minor’s family and that Jacobs was required to enter therapy.

Jacobs received a clean bill of health, but Griffin chose not to reassign him in Columbus and he was later accepted at the Diocese of Victoria in British Columbia.

A cousin of Jacobs’ and a man who had been a student at St. Philip school told The Dispatch in 2002 that they had been molested by Jacobs at a Jacobs family cottage in the late 1970s. Jacobs resigned from his post in British Columbia in 2002 after those allegations became public.

He was arrested on the current charges in 2010. At that time, a spokesman told The Dispatch that the diocese had received about 10 credible reports of abuse by Jacobs since 1993 and that Griffin eventually had passed all allegations on to police.

Jacobs on Monday testified that he had been bullied into masturbating by classmates at St. Charles Preparatory School in Bexley, the Saanich News reports.

A tearful Jacobs also said that his therapy at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., helped him understand the seriousness of what he had done but that “you can’t go back and you can’t undo” the past.

To reach the diocesan victims-assistance coordinator, call 614-224-2251 or 1-866-448-0217, or send email to helpisavailable@colsdioc.org.



Contact: jviviano@dispatch.com