The Long, Long Wait for a List of Sinful Priests

By EJ Montini
ascentral
December 18, 2014

http://www.azcentral.com/story/ejmontini/2014/12/18/priest-roman-catholic-list-pedophile-phoenix-gallup/20593977/

Former Catholic priest Paul LeBrun, convicted of sex charges involving children in the West Valley, at his sentencing in 2005. He got over 100 years in prison.

There's a very good pope in the Vatican these days and that has helped us to forget about the very bad priests that have operated in some Roman Catholic churches.

Including here.

This week the Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., released what it called an updated list of priests who it claims were "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors. At least 17 of them worked in Arizona.

This was a big story once. We've moved on. The same can't be said for the victims.

And while the release of this information is a good thing, and may help other victims who choose to come forward, how could it have possibly taken so long? And how many other dioceses within the church are still holding out?

Back in April of 2002, over 12 years ago, I wrote a column that began:

"I called the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix to ask if the Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien had given police a list of all clergy members, past and present, who have been accused of sexual misconduct. I expected the answer to be yes.

"After all, last Sunday The Arizona Republic printed an article by Bishop O'Brien in which he discussed at length the problem of sexual abuse by priests. Among other things, the bishop said, 'Make no mistake: Such misconduct with minors is deplorable. We cannot condone it; we must condemn it. Such misconduct with minors is a betrayal of trust of the highest order.'

"I couldn't agree more. Given the bishop's strong feelings, I figured there must be a list of alleged offenders."

If there was one, I never got it.

Then again, the issue of molesting priests went back a lot further. Back in 1989 there was the story of Rev. George Bredemann, a local priest who pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted child molestation and, according to prosecutors, acknowledged 15 other victims.

I spoke to the mother of two of those boys.

"I thought I would go crazy,'' she told me. ''That we'd all go crazy.''

I've spoken to several other victim families over the years. It was the same with most of them.

Bredemann died in prison a few years back.

In a written statement after Bredemann's 1989 admission Bishop O'Brien said, ''I'm saddened that this has happened to a priest in the Diocese in Phoenix.''

I noted at the time that his excellency the bishop was confused. That nothing had happened to the priest. It had happened to little boys.

Since then several priests have been prosecuted in Arizona and elsewhere, but according to victim advocates there has never been a full accounting.

There might never be such a thing, not in this life, anyway.

I'd guess, I'd hope, however, that for pedophile priests there is a special place in hell.