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Chicago Archdiocese bars Back of the Yards priest from active ministry
By Manya Brachear Pashman
The Chicago Archdiocese has declined to reinstate to active ministry a well-known Back of the Yards priest who has admitted to sexually abusing a minor when he was a teen. At the request of Archbishop Blase Cupich, the archdiocese's independent review board evaluated the case of the Rev. Bruce Wellems, who had acknowledged that he abused a 7-year-old boy when he was 15. That review in March uncovered "additional facts that weren't previously available," a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said, leading Cupich to bar Wellems from active ministry. The spokeswoman declined to specify whether those new facts involved new allegations and referred all further questions to Wellems' religious order, the Claretian Missionaries. In a statement Wednesday, the Rev. Rosendo Urrabazo, provincial superior of the Claretians, said Wellems had been removed from public ministry as a priest. It's unclear if Wellems could continue to serve in the church in other ways. "He is in communication with the superiors of his religious congregation about his future," Urrabazo said. Wellems has served as a priest and community activist at Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in the Back of the Yards neighborhood for decades. In 2014, shortly after his religious order transferred him to California, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez removed him from ministry after learning about his sexual misconduct as a teenager. Wellems returned to his former Chicago neighborhood to resume work as a youth advocate and activist. Wellems, 59, admitted to committing abuse as a minor, though his recollection of the details and how long it lasted differs from the victim's. "These allegations had nothing to do with who I was as a person," Wellems said in a Tribune article published earlier this year. "In my adult life I've done nothing against children. There's nothing that's ever come up." Eric Johnson, now a 51-year-old father of three living in Colorado, said Wellems abused him multiple times when Johnson was 7 years old. Johnson said he is grateful to Cupich for finally barring Wellems from ministry more than 20 years after he first notified the archdiocese of his allegation. "They did the right thing," said Johnson. "Zero tolerance means just that. It's good for the church to follow its own rules." Wellems could not be reached Wednesday about his removal from ministry. He did not return calls, and receptionist at Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary said he was in a meeting. Rules adopted by America's Catholic bishops in 2002 dictate removing credibly accused priests from public ministry and ousting them from the priesthood altogether. But religious orders in many cases have found ways to keep their clergy — who take vows of poverty and obedience and commit to community life — working in nonpublic roles, under close supervision. Urrabazo said in an interview with the Tribune late last year that he saw no reason why Wellems shouldn't continue in ministry, even though he admitted to abusing Johnson as a teen. "His work speaks for itself without any complaints," Urrabazo said at the time. Over the past 30 years, Wellems has become a champion for young Latinos. Several years after his ordination in 1986, the Claretians moved him to Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, where he worked with at-risk youths in the neighborhood. When Chicago Public Schools adopted a "one strike, you're out" policy — expelling students for offenses such as weapon possession, drug use and gang affiliation — Wellems helped establish two alternative schools, which since have become two campuses of the Peace and Education Coalition Accelerated High School. He also developed support groups, counseling for families, a children's pantry and after-school parish programs including a children's choir, a marimba ensemble and a ballet troupe through the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council. In 1995, Johnson reached out to the Chicago Archdiocese to make officials aware of the priest's history. The archdiocese referred his complaint to the Claretians, who confronted the priest. Wellems confirmed that Johnson was telling the truth. He went through clinical assessments and entered counseling before the Claretians cleared him to return. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin accepted the determination in July 1996 and restored Wellems' faculties to wear a collar and serve as a priest. In 2012, the Claretians transferred Wellems to San Gabriel Mission in Los Angeles and promoted him to prefect of the apostolate for the Claretian Missionaries, a position in the Claretian hierarchy. The Claretians submitted a "letter of suitability," endorsed by the Chicago Archdiocese, officials for the Los Angeles Archdiocese said. Neither the order nor the archdiocese mentioned the 1995 complaint, Los Angeles church officials said. But in May 2014, the Los Angeles Archdiocese received a tip that there was something in Wellems' past. Officials there contacted the Chicago Archdiocese and learned of Johnson's accusation. A month later, the Los Angeles Archdiocese asked Wellems to resign from San Gabriel Mission. Wellems returned to Holy Cross in Chicago, and the Chicago Archdiocese restored his faculties in March 2015. A church official in Chicago said at the time that the law treats juvenile cases differently, and therefore so does the archdiocese. Contacted by a victim's advocate, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services opened an investigation in May 2015, prompting the archdiocese to revoke his permission to celebrate Mass or wear a clerical collar. In July, the state agency documented the original, decades-old claim of abuse as evidence of risk — in case the department receives another allegation against Wellems as an adult. On Wednesday, DCFS said it had not received word from the archdiocese or the Claretians regarding additional allegations. Contact: mbrachear@chicagotribune.com
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