ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Nov. 13, 2019
A Franciscan brother who has been convicted of child sexual abuse has quietly moved from California — where he was a registered sex offender — to Oregon, where he is not required to register. We call on Catholic bishops in Portland and Los Angeles to warn the public about him and seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.
Robert Van Handel, a monk who founded a boys choir and was principal of a seminary in Santa Barbara, admitted that he abused young boys for nearly 20 years. He pleaded guilty to “lewd and lascivious behavior,” went to prison and was required to register as a sex offender.
An investigation by USA Today found him living at Courtyard Fountains, a senior living center in Oregon, where he has been since 2013. But the Franciscan brother is not on the sex offender registry in that state because it has a different system for evaluating abusers.
We strongly suspect that few in Oregon know that Van Handel has been accused of abuse by nearly two dozen victims. Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, OR, should now take steps to warn parents and parishioners about the Franciscan’s presence, using all resources at his disposal including announcements on church websites, in parish bulletins and from pulpits.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.