CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte released a list Monday of 14 clergy members who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse in western North Carolina since the diocese formed in 1972.
The diocese, which serves more than 400,000 Catholics in 46 counties, said no clergy now working for it has been credibly accused of molesting minors. Only one credible case of abuse within the diocese has been alleged in the past 20 years, it said.
"Credibly accused," as the diocese uses the term, means allegations that clergy members admitted to, were charged for by law enforcement, were found believable by the diocese's Lay Review Board or were uncovered in a recently completed review of personnel files.
Most of the incidents reported Monday allegedly occurred decades ago, and the diocese said all 14 accused clergy members were subsequently removed from ministry or had died before the allegations arose.
Officials separately listed 23 clergy members who served the Charlotte diocese without incident but were accused of misconduct elsewhere, and six who served western North Carolina before the Charlotte diocese's 1972 inception.
"It is painful to even try to comprehend such gravely immoral behavior," Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in a letter published Monday along with the list and other abuse information. "However, in speaking with survivors and hearing their stories, it is clear to me that making known the names of their abusers can promote healing for them and their families."
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, whose staff drafted legislation this year that extended the statute of limitations for child abuse claims, called the allegations "devastating."
"I hope this action is part of a process to bring some closure and justice to the victim survivors," Stein said in a statement. "Each of these victim survivors has legal recourse available, including a two-year look-back window for civil claims, regardless of the statute of limitations, that the SAFE Child Act made available to them."
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group, said the lists were incomplete. Among the accused who were not named, SNAP said, were a former Charlotte teacher who had been ordained elsewhere and a seminarian in Salisbury. It also cited the absence of Paul L. Berrell, a former minister of music at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Asheville who pleaded guilty in 2010 to producing child pornography.
"This is information that Catholic officials in Charlotte undoubtedly have access to and yet chose not to make public for reasons unknown," SNAP said in a statement. "It is hard to see this as anything but continued efforts by church leadership to downplay cases of sexual violence and make the problem appear less common _ and less recent _ than it is."
The diocese's second-in-command, the Rev. Patrick Winslow, said the search for abuse allegations was focused solely on ordained clergy _ deacons, priests and bishops _ and on religious brothers from other orders.
"Someone who works in the church is not a minister of the church," Winslow said. "Our policies across the board are zero tolerance" of child abuse.
Clergy listed as having credible allegations against them while serving the Charlotte diocese since 1972:
_ Donald Philip Baker, who served St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Lenoir. A man reported in 2017 that Baker had abused him in the Lenoir parish from 1986 to 1989, when the accuser was a teenager. The diocese's Lay Review Board deemed the allegation credible in 2019. Baker left the ministry in 1994, the diocese says.
_ Charles Jeffries "Jeff" Burton, who was accused in 1994 of inappropriately touching a teenager at Youth Ministry Center in Flat Rock in 1982. His order, the Maryland Province of Jesuits, sent Burton to treatment and then returned him to ministry in New Jersey. When the allegations resurfaced in 2007, the Jesuits said Burton acknowledged the incident and removed him from ministry. He died in 2011.
_ Eugene D. Corbesero, who served Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church in Charlotte. In 1995, a man reported that he had been abused at the church sometime between 1973 and 1975. Then-Charlotte Bishop William Curlin deemed the allegation credible, but Corbesero had left the order in 1983. Corbesero later served five years in prison for the 2006 assault of a minor in New Jersey, the Charlotte diocese said, citing news reports. He died in 2016.
_ Aloysius Joseph D'Silva, who was serving St. Bernadette Catholic Mission in Linville when a teenager said in 1998 that he had inappropriately touched and kissed her. D'Silva denied the claim and the diocese couldn't substantiate it. After further review in 2019, the diocese found the allegation credible. D'Silva died in 2005.
_ Richard B. Farwell, who served Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Salisbury and St. Ann Catholic Church in Charlotte. In 2002, a man claimed that Farwell had abused him in 1983, when he was a teenager, at the Salisbury parish. The diocese removed him from ministry. In 2002, a second man claimed Farwell had sexually abused him as a teenager in 1984 in Charlotte and Salisbury. The diocese reported the claims to police and in 2004 Farwell pleaded no contest to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was sentenced to probation. The Lay Review Board found the allegations credible in 2005. A lawsuit filed by both alleged victims was dismissed in 2014. Farwell lives in Florida.
_ P. Patrick Gavigan, who was accused in 2002 of abusing a minor while serving Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Greensboro in 1973. Gavigan denied the claim, but the Lay Review Board recommended that Gavigan, then living in a nursing home, be restricted from ministry to minors. He died in 2007.
_ Adelbert "Del" Holmes, whose society, the Glenmary Home Missioners, told the Charlotte diocese in November that Holmes had been accused of abusing three minors in 1976 while serving St. William Catholic Church in Murphy. The society had also credibly accused Holmes of abuse in Kentucky and Virginia, and said he admitted the N.C. claims. Holmes was removed from ministry in 1991 and died in 2013.
_ Donald J. Joyce, who was accused in 2002 of abusing a then-minor at Sacred Heart Catholic Mission in Wadesboro from 1973 to 1976. The Charlotte diocese deemed the allegation credible in 2019. A second allegation in Massachusetts was reported in a lawsuit in 2006. Joyce was removed from ministry in 1997 and died in 2013.
_ Michael Joseph Kelleher, who was accused in 2010 of abusing a teenager while serving Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Albemarle in 1977. The Charlotte diocese removed him from ministry in 2010. Albemarle police charged him with taking indecent liberties with a child and said Kelleher admitted the abuse. In 2014 a judge found Kelleher incompetent to stand trial and dismissed the case. Kelleher died a month later. The Lay Review Board later found credible other accusations of abuse of minors in the 1970s and 1980s in Charlotte and Hendersonville.
_ Peter Tan Van Le, who served St. Joseph Vietnamese Catholic Church in Charlotte. He was accused in 2013 of sexually abusing multiple minors at the church. Authorities did not prosecute, but the Lay Review Board found the claims credible and removed him from ministry. He retired to Vietnam.
_ Damion Jacques Lynch, who served St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Boone, where the parents of a 14-year-old boy claimed he had molested him from 1991 to 1995. Lynch admitted the abuse, got treatment but was cleared for a return to ministry at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte in 1997. When the brother of the initial victim also accused Lynch of abuse, he was removed from ministry in 1998. The Charlotte diocese settled two lawsuits with the family, for $77,489 and for an undiclosed amount, the Catholic News Herald has reported.
_ Justin Paul Pechulis, who was accused in a 2008 lawsuit of sexually assaulting a teenager at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Asheville in 1976 or 1977. The Charlotte diocese's Lay Review Board found the allegation credible in 2008; the lawsuit was dismissed. Pechulis died in 1983.
_ Donald Francis Scales, who served St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia. In 2006, a man claimed Scales had abused him as a minor in 1977 and 1978. Scales denied the allegation and no charges were filed, but the Lay Review Board found the allegation credible in 2006 and removed him from ministry. Scales died in 2008.
_ Robert Yurgel, who in 2008 was charged by police after a man told Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police that Yurgel had repeatedly abused him as a teenager nearly a decade earlier. The abuse was said to have taken place at St. Matthew and Our Lady of Consolation Catholic churches in Charlotte and at St. Michael Church in Gastonia. In 2009, Yurgel pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual offense and served nearly eight years in prison. He was dismissed from the clergy in 2010 and released from prison in 2016.
In 2010, the diocese announced it would pay a former altar boy $1 million to settle a lawsuit over his molestation by Yurgel. The diocese admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
"I can assure you that there are (clergy) names that ought to be on that list, that aren't on the list," said Charlotte attorney Seth Langson, who represented the plaintiff in the Yurgel case and has sued the diocese in other cases. Clergy members with a long list of postings serve as potential hints of problems, he said.
"The reason they got moved around a lot is because the diocese wanted them moved," Langson said.
Priests with ties to the Charlotte diocese who were credibly accused of sex abuse elsewhere include Juan Carlos Castano Mejia, a visiting priest who was arrested in 2002 after claims arose in Rock Hill, S.C. He was removed from ministry in 2002, served two years in prison and was deported to Colombia in 2005. Kenneth R. Parker was removed from ministry in 2010 after a credible allegation of sexual abuse in Newton Grove, N.C., in the early 1980s.
A Pennsylvania grand jury report in August 2018 identified nearly 300 "predator priests" in that state going back seven decades. Since then, other Catholic dioceses have published lists of credibly accused clergy, including the 54-county Raleigh diocese in October 2018.
The Charlotte diocese said only in May that it would also release the names of accused clergy by the end of 2019. A review of personnel files had begun in the fall of 2018.
U.S. bishops adopted a policy in 2002 that outlines protocols for responding to allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. The policy requires dioceses to investigate such allegations and temporarily remove priests if evidence of wrongdoing emerges.
Winslow, the diocese's vicar general and chancellor, said church officials had evolved in their thinking since 2002. Instead of simply responding to allegations, they decided, the church should ferret out cases from the past.
"That is what this exercise has been about, shining that light," Winslow said.
The diocese hired a private firm, Charlotte-based U.S. Investigative Security Services, to review more than 1,600 personnel files that had been created since the diocese's inception. Four credible cases dating before 2002, when the new policies took effect, surfaced from the files and are among the 14 listed, the diocese said Monday.
"It's been very thorough, and we've taken care to do it right," Winslow said. "We are part of a process to see that it never happens again."
Not included on the lists released Monday are two recently-aired allegations of abuse _ one unsettled and another not involving minors _ that still hang over the diocese.
The pastor of Charlotte's St. Matthew Catholic Church, one of the nation's largest parishes, was placed on administrative leave earlier this month after decades-old allegations surfaced.
A man accused the Rev. Patrick Hoare of abuse in Pennsylvania 25 years ago, when the accuser was a minor but before Hoare entered the ministry, Bishop Jugis has said. Hoare denies the allegation. When a police investigation is complete, Jugis said, the diocese's Lay Review Board will conduct an internal investigation to determine if the allegations are credible.
The diocese's former second-in-command, Monsignor Mauricio West, stepped down in March after an initial claim of sexual misconduct involving an adult student at Belmont Abbey College in the 1980s was found credible.
In November, Jugis announced that four more claims of sexual misconduct against West had been found credible. The allegations claimed inappropriate behavior from the 1980s and 1990s that did not involve minors, including unwanted kissing. West has denied all the allegations.
In the 12-month period between mid-2017 and mid-2018, adults filed 1,455 allegations of abuse by Catholic clerics, double the number from the previous year, The Associated Press reported in June. Catholic dioceses and religious orders spent $301.6 million in payments to victims, legal fees and child-protection efforts, an annual report of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said, AP reported.
The Charlotte diocese's news site, the Catholic News Herald, reported in August 2018 that the diocese had spent $633,000 since 1995 on counseling for victims and $1.4 million since 2010 in legal costs from lawsuits.
