Church wanted to avoid 'scandal' over pedophile priest
By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published July 2, 2008 at 7:47 p.m.
Photo by Chris Schneider
Attorney Jeff Anderson, center, stands in front of attorneys, victims and their family members as he holds a photo of Pastor Harold White as he announces a settlement for 12 victims of sexual abuse by clergy with the Denver Archdiocese in Denver, Colo., on Tuesday.
The letter called it "boy troubles."
That's how a Colorado Springs Catholic official in 1965 described the repeated, flagrant advances to children by the late Harold Robert White, the one-time priest at the center of many of the 44 sexual abuse cases settled by the Denver Archdiocese since 2006.
Church correspondence and reports from the early 1960s through early 1980s made public Wednesday show that many in the Denver Archdiocese knew White was a pedophile.
But instead of removing him from the priesthood, church officials transferred White to at least nine parishes during his career, which began with his ordination in 1960 and ended in 2004, when he was defrocked. He died in 2006.
"...the parish would be better off without Father White," wrote a cleric in Sterling, where White was transferred from Colorado Springs after abusing a child at a Catholic school.
A Minnesota lawyer who represents some of the abuse victims released more than 150 pages of archdiocesan documents Wednesday. The lawyer, Jeff Anderson, obtained the material under the settlement with the church.
The incidents detailed in the documents occurred between 1961 and 1981. Letters between clerics and complaints from parents cite advances on boys and fondling — the "unforgivable sin of the Bible," as the Springs letter put it.
Names, except for White's, were blacked out. But Archdiocesan letterhead and contextual clues make clear that church officials were concerned about White's sexual activities, but didn't tell authorities. The documents refer to other incidents that may not have been made public.
"There's a lot of damning information in those documents," said Tom Koldeway, 47, who was molested by White for more than eight years. "They knew he was a pedophile before I was born."
Archbishop Charles Chaput said that under today's rules, pedophiles would be reported to the police. Chaput said he doesn't know why previous church officials allowed offenders to transfer to other parishes.
White, who was born in 1933, entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver right out of Regis High School.
His seminary grades were poor. One teacher described him as "not too bright," but with a personality that could make him "a good and sincere priest."
White was soon in trouble at his first church appointment, St. Catherine's in North Denver. At least several incidents occurred, including one described as "an approach ... by the priest to the boy for an indecent act." When the boy fled, White chased him, the document says.
A letter dated Dec. 13, 1961, shows church officials worried about "scandal" if one of the allegations became public. The letter does not mention the possible effect on the boy.
Several incidents led to White's transfer to Colorado Springs, followed by postings to Sterling, Loveland, Minturn and Aspen. He had trouble in each of those parishes.
No documents were released for the period after 1981, when White served in Wheat Ridge, Grand Lake and Steamboat Springs. The reason he was defrocked has not been released.
At each parish, White's sexual advances quickly became notorious among local Catholics, the letters show.
"Doesn't anybody tell you anything?" a Loveland parent asked in a letter to a archdiocesan official in Denver. "Don't you know what's going on?"
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
Featured
-
Broncos Game Action
Click for more game action photos from Invesco field.
-
2008 Race for the Cure
The 16th Annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
-
Rocky Multimedia
The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on today's events.
-
A dream fulfilled
A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production
-
Presidential Elections
See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.
-
County election profiles
A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.
-
A Dozen on Denver
Connie Willis is the featured author this week in 'A Dozen on Denver'
-
Rocky Truth Patrol
Reporters Laura Frank and Katie Kerwin McCrimmon hunt for truth in politics.
-
Peak Picks
Submit your fall foliage photos to our contest and vote on other submissions.
July 2, 2008
8:31 p.m.
Who_Me writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
July 2, 2008
8:35 p.m.
Suggest removal
Sweetpickle writes:
Gotta keep the $$$ rolling in.
July 2, 2008
9:29 p.m.
Suggest removal
WestminsterJ writes:
>But instead of removing him from the priesthood, church officials transferred White to at least nine parishes during his career, which began with his ordination in 1960 and ended in 2004, when he was defrocked.
I don't remember exactly when Archbishop Chaput was installed, but it was sometime in the mid to late 90s. Why was White only defrocked in 2004? And Archbishop Chaput's predecessor, Francis Stafford, is a Cardinal in Rome.
July 2, 2008
9:56 p.m.
Suggest removal
McGowdog writes:
If this is all true, which it looks pretty grim, these Church officials are going to a pound-me-n-th @$$ Hell. By their own rules, so to speak.
God really HATES when you mess with the children...so it says.
Time to separate Church and State and let the State deal with all of them.
July 2, 2008
11:11 p.m.
Suggest removal
Huskie writes:
Why didn't one of the many, many parents call the police? Or did they? If not, why not? Since 1961, seems like there were plenty of opportunities to call the cops.
Archbishop Charles Chaput said that "under today's rules, pedophiles would be reported to the police" - why not in 2004, when White was ousted? That was just 4 years ago!
I'm not saying the victims don't deserve the money, I'm just saying that society didn't get justice. It shouldn't be just about the money. I know White died in 2006, but it just seems like there was plenty of time to make him pay his debt to society.
July 3, 2008
1:54 a.m.
Suggest removal
benn writes:
There is a pattern of this in the Church (obviously).
Check out the documentary called 'Deliver Us From Evil', and it is nearly an exact mirror of this story... except the priest in that movie was shipped back to Ireland where he walks completely free.
http://www.deliverusfromevilthemovie.com
July 3, 2008
5:02 a.m.
Suggest removal
Vector049 writes:
I'm not sure which is worse: the defrocked priest, the sleeze bag lawyers, or the whiney "victims" playing the litigation lotto?
July 3, 2008
7:34 a.m.
Suggest removal
vudumom writes:
He should have been beheaded not defrocked.
July 3, 2008
7:35 a.m.
Suggest removal
MarineGrunt writes:
So.. they admitted that the 'image' of the church was more important then the well being of these children? AND THEY STILL THINK THIS?
I guess you could see why this would leave a bitter taste in a lot of ways!! (pun intended!)
July 3, 2008
8:30 a.m.
Suggest removal
Who_Me writes:
My post was removed by the site staff? Awesome, this is just like being in the Catholic church: complaints are covered up/swept away.
July 3, 2008
8:33 a.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
Conservatives have built a multi-billion dollar business convincing people to support policies that are bad for the American public. So far, this has been a huge success. Tremendous efforts are now being expended to cover up the results. Let's pretend the layoffs and foreclosures didn't happen. The 50 millions of Americans living with crippling injuries and being sickened by health care deprivation don't count.
The Catholic Church did the same thing that the Bush administration is doing today with one important exception:
The Catholic Church didn't spin it to convince the public that raping children is good for them.
July 3, 2008
8:47 a.m.
Suggest removal
Scott writes:
From the article: "Chaput said he doesn't know why previous church officials allowed offenders to transfer to other parishes."
Some one needs to remind Chaput that God sends you to Hell for lying just as fast as he will for murder. Chaput knows the reason. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) feels (present tense) that it is above the law of the land. From early in the RCC history they had the power over simple minds to supposedly condemn a person to Hell if that person did not toe-the-line. In these examples (sexual assault) the victim was probably told that they would be sent to Hell if they squealed to the police. So why would the RCC not want to turn over one of their pedophiles? Simple, it would show that the RCC was not infallible, hence the RCC would lose some of the control over simple minds. By the way, only one person has the control to send you to Hell, YOU and only YOU. No one else, regardless of what the RCC says.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Lord Action 1887.
Scott
July 3, 2008
8:49 a.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
HolierThanThou - ???
The story is about a cover up in the Catholic Church.
What do "layoffs, foreclosures, crippling injuries and health care deprivation" have to do with this?
Couldn't you just write, IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!, and be done with it?
July 3, 2008
9:25 a.m.
Suggest removal
freedomfighter1 writes:
If priests know its a sin to molest children and they know that they can not sin with the idea that they will repent later and they know that they can not go to heaven with unforgiven sins, then do you realy think that these priests believe that there is a god and heaven?
July 3, 2008
9:49 a.m.
Suggest removal
Buckwheat writes:
Good thing I wasn't on the jury, there would have been a few more zero's on that check. What an insult to the victims.
July 3, 2008
10:04 a.m.
Suggest removal
ofcourse writes:
As the father of an abused child who was molested by a family friend, almost everyone one of you cannot begin to fathom the deep pain and scares that endure for years. Instead of baseball and soccor, we were at counceling for years. And the abuser? Well, he got probabation. Every think you could kill someone? I never thought I could, but until you fully understand what happened, you'd be surprised what you're capable of. God helped me through my anger and pain.
The Catholic Chuch...the people who manage the church...the pope, all disgust me for their positons and lack of action to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Alas, at the final judgement, they'll be judged.
July 3, 2008
10:50 a.m.
Suggest removal
Who_Me writes:
The most disgusting/maddening part about of all of this is: they knew about it and did nothing about it. I have stopped, and will never, ever again give any money whatsoever to anything related to the Catholic church. So I can help pay their settlements? F that noise. Chaput knew about these "troubled by boys" pedophiles masquerading as priests, so did his predecessor now living in Rome. I know the man who was the chief theologian in the arch. of Boston - who was turned out/rejected by the "church" for giving authorities copies of church documents related to the abuse cover up. It has been, and always will be about protecting the image.
July 3, 2008
10:52 a.m.
Suggest removal
The_Punnisher writes:
With this church, it's business as usual...
http://liberalserving.typepad.com/pho...
They got over 500 YEARS worth of experience dealing with this issue..
July 3, 2008
12:53 p.m.
Suggest removal
Scott writes:
freedomfighter1:
Of course! For over 500 years the Roman Catholic Church has been in the business of selling "forgiveness". That act, selling indulgences, was what kicked off the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther saw the hypocrisy in it over 500 years ago ... and the sheep still keep bowing towards Rome .... As an example, how do you think that The Blob (Ted Kennedy) got his marriage to Joan annulled? In the Roman Catholic Church money talks and excrement walks.
Scott
July 3, 2008
4:38 p.m.
Suggest removal
Eddard writes:
But why can't victims of public school teachers who abuse them sexually 30 or 40 years ago get millions dollars? Can you actually figure this out? No? Here's a clue: because none of this was ever about the victims but about the lawyers who decided to shakedown the Church and used the victims to do it.
July 7, 2008
7:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
jimsrhtm writes:
For those of you Catholics who haven't got it yet, the New Church of Vatican 2 is corrupt. (I got out 12 years ago and went to the SSPX for the TRUE MASS and Sacraments.) It seems to me they are protecting their friends higher up in the Heirarchy who may be guilty of similar crimes. With the Bishops from Boston and San Francisco getting plum jobs in Rome the reward machine is in overdrive for keeping the lid on things as best they can. Look at Cdl. Mahoney in Los Angeles who spent $600 Million, partly of your money, to payoff those he helped shield. Get out now and get to "real" Catholicism. Modernism/Liberalism is poison.