YORK (PA)
York Daily Record
August 17, 2018
By Anthony J. Machcinski
In a nearly 900-page grand jury report on abuse by priests in the Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania, the name St. Luke’s Institute keeps appearing.
It was where Father Joseph Mueller was sent in April 1986 after he tried to pull down the pants of a teenager on multiple occasions, according to the report.
The Rev. Richard Terdine, too, was sent there after he allegedly patted the genital area of a boy and massaged his back.
In total, at least 30 priests were sent to St. Luke’s Institute, according to the report that goes back decades.
The report released Tuesday, which listed the names of 301 priests in six Catholic dioceses accused of child abuse, names psychiatric treatment centers as part of the issue of dealing with problem priests.
St. Luke’s isn’t the only place where priests were sent. Other mentioned treatment centers include St. John Vianney, a church-run facility in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, where at least 17 priests were sent, and Southdown Institute, a psychiatric facility in Canada where several others took sabbaticals.
The grand jury drew attention to treatment centers as part of the problem.
“(The dioceses) for an appearance of integrity, send priests for ‘evaluation’ at church-run psychiatric treatment centers,” the report states. “(The dioceses) allow these experts to ‘diagnose’ whether the priest was a pedophile, based largely on the priest’s ‘self-reports’,” and regardless of whether the priest had actually engaged in sexual contact with a child.”
Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for St. Luke’s, disagreed with that statement.
They are actually part of the solution,” Gibbs said. “(St. Luke’s) provided external information to the diocese so they could make the right steps… By sending people to treatment, you’re giving them treatment that will hopefully end the abuse.”
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