Rev. Carl Anthony Schipper

Summary of Case: A prominent San Francisco priest and educator, Schipper was arrested in March 2000 and charged with shipping harmful matter to minors over the internet. He'd been caught having sexually explicit conversations with undercover police officers posing as 13-to 15-year-old boys, and inviting them to meet up with him. Schipper pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to six months in jail and three years' probation.

Ordained: 1968
Retired: 2003

 

     

Start Stop Parish/Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1968

San Francisco Archbishop was Joseph Thomas McGucken (1962-1977)

1970 St. Raymond's Menlo Park CA 2/3 St. Raymond's had a school with 112-111 boys and 135-132 girls.
1970 1972 Immaculate Heart of Mary Belmont CA 3/3

In residence. 		IHM had a school with 158-147 boys and 178-167 girls.

1970

McGucken was succeeded by John Raphael Quinn (1977-1995)

1979 Serra High School for Boys San Mateo CA

faculty member; Principal 1975-1979

Serra High had 884-897 students.
1978 1981 Archdiocesan Board of Education San Francisco CA    
1978 1987 Department of [Catholic] Education San Francisco CA Superintendent  
1981 1985 Archdiocesan Personnel Board San Francisco CA    
1981 1985 Secretary of Christian Education San Francisco CA    
1979 1982 St. Vincent's School for Boys San Rafael CA In residence. St. Vincent's School was a residential child care facility with 60-74 boys.
1982 1987 Cathedral of St. Mary San Francisco CA

4/4, 5/5

In residence.

The Cathedral had a school 1982-1985 with 161-182 students.
1987 1992 St. Gabriel's San Francisco CA 1/4, 1/5, 1/3 St. Gabriel's had a school with 452-481 students.

1992

William Joseph Levada followed Quinn as San Francisco archbishop (1995-2005)

2000 St. Patrick's Seminary

Menlo Park

• Schipper was arrested in March 2000 and charged with shipping harmful matter to minors over the internet. He had had sexually explicit conversations online with police officers posing as a 13-year-old boy.

CA Director of Pastoral Year 1992-1997; Academic Dean 1997-2000. San Jose police began investigating the previous September when a teenage boy appeared at their sexual assault unit with a screen name written on his hand. The screen name belonged to Schipper. Schipper asked at least three different undercover cops online if they would like to meet, thinking they were 13- to 15-year-old boys. Schipper was living both at St. Patrick's Seminary, and in Santa Rosa.
2000 2003 Administrative Leave      

Schipper is not indexed in the 2001-2003 Directories.

Schipper pleaded guilty in Aug. 2000. He was sentenced that November to six months in jail and three years' probation. The jail term was to be stayed until Jan. 22, 2001 while a study was done to see if Schipper would qualify for a work furlough program rather than jail. Schipper was also to register as a sex offender. A Dec. 2011 search for Schipper on the California Sex Offender website yielded no results.

2003

George Hugh Niederauer succeeded Levada (2005-)

2010 Retired        

 

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1969-2010)

• Priest Charged in Sex Case Menlo Park: He Had Explicit Chats on Internet with Undercover Cops Posing As Teen Boy, Police Say, By Carole Rafferty, San Jose Mercury News (California), March 4, 2000
• Menlo Park Priest Arrested in Sex Sting, By Julie N. Lynem, San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 2000
• Menlo Park Priest Pleads Guilty to Sex Offense, San Francisco Chronicle, August 23, 2000
• Priest Gets 6 Months in Jail Educator Sentenced in Online Sex-Chat Case, By Bill Romano, San Jose Mercury News, November 22, 2000
• Priest Gets 6 Months in Jail Educator Sentenced in Online Sex-Chat Case, By Bill Romano, San Jose Mercury News, November 22, 2000

 



Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Schipper's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Dec. 1, 2011.