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West Virginia diocese releases credibly accused priest list
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Gallup Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com
December 5, 2018
GALLUP — A retired priest from the Diocese of Gallup has been named as a credibly accused abuser by a Catholic diocese in West Virginia.
The Rev. Eugene R. Bowski, MSsA was included on a list of 31 individuals identified as credibly accused clergy abusers by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Thursday. According to information on the diocese’s website, Bowski served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Franklin, West Virginia, from June 1980 to March 1982. Bowski’s last day at that parish, March 25, 1982, is the day the alleged abuse of a minor was reported.
The initials MSsA indicate Bowski was a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles during the time he worked in West Virginia.
Suzanne Hammons, the director of communications for the Diocese of Gallup, was contacted for comment Monday. According to Hammons, Gallup diocesan officials only learned of the Wheeling- Charleston allegation Nov. 28, the day before the diocese publicly released its list of credibly accused abusers.
“Previous inquiries into Fr. Bowski’s background, including through his religious order and military service, did not mention the allegation, and we are currently investigating why this information was not provided to our Diocese until last week,” Hammons said in an email Tuesday. “Once we understand the correct timeline of allegations and assignments, we will be adding Fr. Bowski to the credibly accused list.”
Gallup allegation
Bowski was accused of sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Gallup as he was retiring in 2014. During the diocese's bankruptcy case, a young man filed a claim against Bowski, and the claim was mentioned in legal documents. In 2016, the Independent obtained a police report from the McKinley County Sheriff's Office related to the allegation.
According to the police report, the alleged victim and his grandmother claimed Bowski allegedly befriended and groomed the teenage boy for several years before sexually propositioning the boy in July 2014, not long after the young man turned 18 years old. Before the incident, Bowski had been working as a priest at St. Patrick’s Mission, located between Gallup and Zuni.
No charges were filed against Bowski because the alleged victim was no longer a minor when the incident took place.
In several phone interviews in 2016, Bowski denied he had ever tried to groom the boy for abuse. He also denied sexually propositioning the young man, and instead claimed he had been misunderstood.
However, the grandmother of the young man remains steadfast in the belief that Bowski did indeed groom the boy for abuse and did sexually proposition him.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said about Bowski Tues day, when notified about the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s announcement. “He blew the trust of our family after we helped him a lot.”
“I don’t think he should have ever been sent out here to hurt our people,” she added.
Army chaplain
Bowski was also contacted Tuesday, and expressed surprise over the Diocese of Wheeling- Charleston announcement.
"This is the first I heard of that,” Bowski said. “I can’t comment on that. I’ll have to look into that.”
A short time later, Bowski called back. He said he had just sent an email to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and might comment further after he hears back from diocesan officials.
“Who is accusing me of what?” Bowski said, noting the incident occurred 36 years ago and the alleged victim would now be an adult.
Bowski said he did not know who made the allegation against him, and added if the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston had a credible accusation back in 1982, the diocese should have done something about it then.
Bowski was reminded that back in 1982, Catholic dioceses typically covered up abuse allegations and transferred clergy abusers to new ministry assignments. He did not respond to that comment.
According to Bowski, after he left the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, he joined the U.S. Army as a military chaplain, and he later came to the Diocese of Gallup.
"I have a right to fight back," Bowski said of the 1982 allegation. "I'm trying to find out what happened so I can respond intelligently.”
Washington, D.C., assignment
On Monday, the Independent attempted to contact the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe – all Catholic entities affiliated with Bowski.
The Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, located in Cromwell, Connecticut, did not respond, just as they did not respond in 2016. Neither did the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Officials with the Archdiocese of Washington did, however, provide information about Bowski’s assignment in Washington, D.C.
“The information we have on Rev. Eugene R. Bowski, MSA is that from 1978 to 1980, he was the director of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles’ House of Studies which is located in Washington, D.C., but not affiliated with the Archdiocese of Washington,” Chieko Noguchi, director of media relations, said in an email Tuesday.
Noguchi said the archdiocese gave Bowski priestly faculties from 1979 to 1980 to exercise the role he held with his religious order, but that Bowski didn’t have a parish assignment nor was he involved in any archdiocesan ministries. In addition, the archdiocese has not received any sex abuse allegations against Bowski.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe was also contacted. When Bowski filed for bankruptcy in 2009, he listed income earned in the Santa Fe Archdiocese, working as a hospital chaplain at the University of New Mexico Hospital and San Ignacio Church in Albuquerque from 2007 to 2009. On Monday, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and Celine Baca Radigan, the director of communications for the archdiocese, did not respond.
Priestly faculties removed
It is unclear when Bowski first came to the Diocese of Gallup since Hammons did not provide information about Bowski’s ministry assignments.
According to Hammons, the Gallup Diocese has removed Bowski’s priestly faculties, but he has not been formally laicized by the Church.
“As is our standard procedure, the Diocese of Gallup removed his faculties when the allegation was made,” Hammons said. “Although the authorities did not charge him with any crimes, the allegations were severe enough that his faculties have never been returned to him.”
“As it stands,” she added, “our requests for laicization are handled through the Vatican – we refer a case to them with our request that they be laicized. Unfortunately, violations such as these are usually not sufficient for a priest to be laicized by the Vatican.”
Hammons did not provide information about where Bowski is currently living or if he is receiving retirement benefits from the Gallup Diocese. After his retirement, Bowski was living in Williams Acres. In 2016, Bowski told the Independent he was living in Grants.
Hammons did, however, encourage the public to report abuse allegations. "One major benefit to publishing names on a credibly accused list is publicity,” she concluded. “As always, if anyone who reads your story has an allegation of abuse to report, it is crucial that they notify law enforcement.”
(Note: This version reflects a minor typographical correction from the published article.)
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