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	Diocese Says It Has No Say about Priest Admitted Molester Stays in Order's Facility By George Pawlaczyk Belleville News-Democrat May 20, 2006 http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/14627003.htm BELLEVILLE - A defrocked priest who has admitted to molesting children and lives in a religious order's retirement home is not the responsibility of the bishop of Belleville, the Rev. Jack McEvilly, diocesan vicar general, said Friday. And despite a priest sexual abuse policy of zero tolerance developed in 2002 at the National Bishop's Conference in Dallas, religious orders are not bound by the agreement. "I think that the bishop is within the Dallas accords," said McEvilly about Bishop Edward Braxton's decision to allow the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to decide what to do about the Rev. Real Bourque, 78. In Belleville, the Oblates operate the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows and a retirement home near Althoff Catholic High School. "They have accepted that it is their responsibility to provide a residence and adequate supervision for Father Bourque," McEvilly said about the outcome of a meeting on Tuesday at the chancery between him and local Oblate leader the Rev. Allen Maes. As for Braxton's involvement with Bourque, McEvilly said: "I think that he believes that we have gone about as far as we can go." Maes could not be reached. David Clohessy, executive director of the St. Louis-based Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, said Braxton's hands-off response concerning Bourque is typical of what allowed priestly abuse to develop, especially in Belleville where more than 15 priests have been removed from ministry in the last decade because of suspected sexual abuse of minors. "The upshot of this is nothing will happen," Clohessy said. "The net result is that sexual perpetrators can still be moved secretly into unsuspecting communities, and church officials can still deceive other church officials while kids remain at risk." Bourque, apparently without the knowledge of then-Bishop Wilton Gregory, was transferred four years ago to the St. Henry Oblate Retirement Home near the intersection of West Main and North 60th streets. Gregory, now archbishop of Atlanta, said recently that had he known, he would not have allowed Bourque to reside in the diocese, even in a home operated by a religious order. Bourque admitted in April to church officials, to his fellow retired priests in Belleville and to a reporter that he sexually abused boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Massachusetts. Bourque has since said he will no longer comment. In 1995, he was briefly treated at a church-run center for sexual abusers in Maryland. He was never charged with a crime. Bourque, who has an Illinois driver's license and access to a vehicle, could come and go as he pleased at the retirement home, the Rev. James Taylor has said. Taylor, the supervisor of the home, could not again be reached despite telephone calls over several days. "They don't have an awful lot to say about religious (order) priests. They can at times twist arms of religious priests, but canonically (under church law) they don't have an awful lot of power," said the Rev. Roger Karban, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Renault. Karban founded the controversial Southern Illinois Association of Priests, but is not now a member. He said that by calling a meeting with the Oblates, Braxton has probably done all that is possible under church law. But Clohessy said the promises made in Dallas should apply to all priests. He said that if Braxton had just taken a public stand urging that Bourque be strictly supervised or moved to a location away from children, there would be no ongoing concern. "Nothing changes," Clohessy said. "Catholic priests secretly supervising abusive Catholic priests is exactly what caused this mess to begin with." Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625.
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