Bishop Rhoades' actions in sex abuse cases by two Pennsylvania priests detailed in report

SOUTH BEND — The local Catholic bishop, Kevin Rhoades, confronted at least two instances of alleged priest sexual abuse at his previous post in Pennsylvania, notifying his superiors and law enforcement of the accusations in both cases but also cautioning against publicly releasing the information to avoid “scandal.”

One of the priests, William Presley, was a student, rector and employee at the University of Notre Dame in the 1970s, when some of his abuse allegedly took place.

Rhoades in 2006 recommended that Presley, retired by then, be defrocked.

“Dismissal from the clerical state may be the only means of removing a sexual predator from the ranks of the priesthood,” Rhoades wrote to a Vatican official at the time. “His age is not necessarily an obstacle to his sexual misconduct, given his history. As long as Father William F. Presley remains in the clerical state, I harbor fear for the People of God within the Diocese of Harrisburg.”

But Rhoades also warned that if information about the “violent behavior” of Presley was “to become known, especially in the light of his offers of public assistance at Mass in several parishes, great public scandal would arise within this diocese.”

In the other case, from 2007, Rhoades again notified his superiors and authorities of the allegations. He also noted in a letter that the priest was spending the remainder of his life “in prayer and penance, trying to make reparation for the harm he has caused others through his acts of sexual abuse that occurred early in his priesthood.”

“If his case is now brought to trial or given any kind of publicity,” Rhoades added, “I fear it will cause scandal to many, as he is still a priest who is beloved by many in our diocese.”

The information about Rhoades was included in a grand jury report released Tuesday regarding accusations of sexual abuse by more than 300 priests in several Pennsylvania dioceses. Two priests have been charged so far, and the investigation is ongoing.

Rhoades served as bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg from 2004 to 2009, before becoming bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

The grand jury report includes a response from Rhoades’ attorneys that takes issue with “out of context” quotes from his letters, and chronicles his efforts to punish the priests and notify law enforcement.

In a statement released Tuesday, Rhoades said, “During my time in Harrisburg and now here in Fort Wayne-South Bend, I have upheld an unwavering commitment to child safety, closely following all policies and procedures put in place.”

In both cases mentioned in the report, Rhoades added, he “followed all child protection policies and procedures, notified law enforcement, and took other action as appropriate, since each of the accused priests had already been removed from public ministry due to previous allegations.”

Earlier this month, the current bishop of Harrisburg, Ronald Gainer, announced that he would strip the names of all the diocese’s bishops dating back to 1947 from any buildings, halls and rooms because they “failed” to protect victims.

No buildings were named after Rhoades, but a room in St. Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg was, according to diocese spokeman Joseph Aponick. A committee will make recommendations to Gainer for new names on buildings and rooms.

The Pennsylvania grand jury’s report was prepared after hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses and reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents from six dioceses. While 1,000 children were identified as victims, the jury said it believed the real number “is in the thousands.”

The report recommended a series of reforms, including eliminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse.

The report also names a pair of accused priests who spent time at Notre Dame: Edward Graff, who was at the university from 1963 to 1964, and Stephen Jeselnick, who was there from 1980 to 1981. The alleged abuse did not occur at Notre Dame, according to the report.

‘Hard-core predator’

Presley was accused in the report of abusing at least five people between 1963 to 1986, including a victim as young as 13.

Presley began his career in Erie, Pa., before coming to South Bend in 1970 to take education courses at Notre Dame. He also served as rector of Keenan Hall and St. Edward’s Hall, according to archives of The Tribune and the university’s student newspaper, The Observer. After receiving his master’s degree in 1972, he worked as a freshman counselor and later as assistant dean of the Freshman Year of Studies Program

According to the grand jury report, the Diocese of Erie received a pair of accusations of past sexual abuse by Presley in 1987, where he then served as a pastor at St. Agnes, Morrisdale parish. He was reassigned to a parish in Sykesville in 1990, where he worked until his retirement in 2000.

Then in 2002, after Boston Globe reports of sexual abuse by priests, the Erie Diocese received accusations about Presley from three other victims about abuse from 1963 to 1974, spanning a portion of his time in South Bend.

By 2005, Erie Diocese Bishop Donald Trautman attempted to remove Presley from the priesthood, records show. In a diocesan document that chronicled accusations against Presley, he was described as “a violent man” who had “all the classic signs of a hardcore predator.”

The following year, Rhoades, by then bishop of the Harrisburg Diocese in which Presley lived, recommended that Presley be stripped of his priesthood and included the recommendation to avoid “public scandal.”

In a response to the grand jury report, Rhoades’ lawyers claim the “scandal” quote was taken out of context.

The lawyers argue that Rhoades’ move to defrock Presley, and his actions to notify the local prosecutor, prove that he did not try to “protect Presley or to bury the allegations.”

Presley was officially laicized in 2006, and no charges were brought against him because the statute of limitations had passed. He is now dead.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said the university is “not aware of any complaints against him while he was here in the 1970s.”

‘He did the opposite’

The other case mentioned in the report that was handled by Rhoades centered on Francis Bach, a Harrisburg diocesan priest who admitted to abusing at least 14 minors. He often invited victims to stay with him in a motel or travel to Maryland, where he co-owned a boat with another priest named in the grand jury report.

In 2007, Rhoades received a complaint against Bach, who was then retired. Rhoades informed the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, a body tasked with defending Catholic doctrine, of complaints the diocese received about Bach’s past abuse of minors.

Allegations were first made against Bach in 1994, which resulted in his retirement. According to his lawyers’ response to the grand jury, Rhoades sent a letter to the local prosecutor within 72 hours of the diocese’s receipt of the new allegation; Rhoades also notified the bishop in the Delaware diocese where Bach was living at the time.

The lawyers wrote “there can be no suggestion that Bishop Rhoades intended to keep the allegations secret. In fact, he did the opposite.”

When interviewed by the diocese in 2009 about an abuse allegation, according to a document reviewed by the grand jury, Bach said he couldn’t remember the incident but added, “With my history, anything is possible.”

Bach was never laicized before his death in 2010; he was never criminally charged because the statute of limitations had expired.

Tribune staff writer Nora McGreevy contributed to this report