{"id":21390,"date":"2018-08-22T19:05:53","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T23:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21390"},"modified":"2018-08-29T19:23:55","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T23:23:55","slug":"seven-priests-named-in-pennsylvania-report-received-treatment-in-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/seven-priests-named-in-pennsylvania-report-received-treatment-in-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven priests named in Pennsylvania report received treatment in Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

An explosive Grand Jury report on clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dating back to 1947 released last week reveals that seven of more than 300 \u201cpredator priests\u201d within the Catholic church received treatment at a facility formerly in Aurora.
\nThe interim report into more than 1,000 cases of abuse published last Tuesday revealed that seven of the accused \u2013 John P. Connor, John S. Hoehl, William P. O\u2019Malley III, Benedict J. Van der Putten, Michael G. Barletta, Michael Robert Freeman, and Thomas C. Kelley, were sent for \u201crehabilitation\u201d at the Southdown Institute, which used to be located on the south side of St. John\u2019s Sideroad between Leslie Street and Bayview Avenue.
\nNow located in Holland Landing, after the Aurora site was razed five years ago to make way for the 2C housing development, Southdown was founded over 50 years ago with a mission to \u201cprovide preventative and restorative care to clergy and vowed religious using the integration of psychological, physical and interpersonal practice with the wisdom of the Catholic Spiritual Tradition.\u201d
\nThe Grand Jury Report, however, reveals that the local dioceses in Pennsylvania did not uniformly follow the recommendations and prescribed treatments that were prescribed by the facilitators at Southdown.
\nJohn P. Connor was arrested in New Jersey in 1984 for sexually molesting a 14-year-old.
\nThe Grand Jury Report indicates that notes regarding Connor from Southdown indicated that \u201cbecause of Connor\u2019s problem with alcohol, \u2018he acts out sexually with some preference to late adolescent males.\u2019 They specifically warned against giving Connor responsibility for adolescence. In a September 3, 1985 memorandum to Bishop George Guilfoyle of Camden from the Executive Director of Southdown, specifically cautioned that \u2018because of the incident for which he was apprehended, we would not recommend any ministry would directly put him in a position of responsibility for adolescents such as a teaching situation.\u2019\u201d
\nIndeed, the Grand Jury report indicates this was the case for a time as Connor was bounced around, but by 1986, he was reassigned to a new church with \u201can unrestricted ministry. There was no warning to the parishioners of the church that he was an admitted child molester.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Grand Jury further heard that Archbishop Bevilacqua also neglected to tell the pastor that Father Connor had a history of alcohol abuse and that Southdown had warned that excessive use of alcohol could increase the risk that the priest would act out sexually with adolescents. Thus, when Father Connor continued to drink, Father Donlon did not know to be especially concerned.\u201d
\nFifteen men came forward with claims of sexual abuse and inappropriate touching at the hands of John S. Hoehl from the 1970s through to the 1990s.
\nThe report notes that Hoehl was sent to Southdown for treatment in 1986 following the first report of abuse. His course of treatment was \u201capproximately six months\u201d and he was released on November 21 of the same year.
\n\u201cDuring his treatment at Southdown, the Director informed the Diocese that Hoehl had admitted he had been sexually involved with several high school students when headmaster at Quigley College (Baden, PA). At the conclusion of his treatment, Southdown provided the Diocese with an assessment that Hoehl, in fact was\/is a pedophile.\u201d
\nO\u2019Malley, who died in 2004, is cited in at least two cases of sexual assault and, in some cases, taking photographs of teen boys in their underwear.
\nHe was in treatment at Southdown for much of 1998, according to the report, with correspondence dating back to February of that year indicating O\u2019Malley \u201cstated he had a fantasy for \u2018well-built 16, 17 or 18-year-olds,\u2019 along with continued over-involvement with youth and an inappropriate pre-occupation with things that attract youth.\u201d
\nVan der Putten was the subject of numerous accusations of sexual assault on young women.
\nAfter admitting involvement with a 16-year-old girl, including kissing, touching her breasts, and exposing his genitalia, arguing that the acts were \u201cjust attempts to build trust,\u201d he was sent to Southdown in 2002.
\n\u201cHe admitted to recently fondling a young woman he met while on Christmas vacation in 2001,\u201d notes the report. \u201cThe Southdown Institute found Van der Putten had \u2018predatory behaviour.\u2019\u201d
\n Barletta, who was ordained in 1966, and was treated at Southdown in 1995, is cited in the report with eight clear victims but notes those within the church have stated this number is closer to 25.
\n\u201cIn 1994, the Diocese listed Barletta as being on sabbatical. He had actually been sent to Southdown Treatment Centre. This information was never released to the parishioners of the Diocese of Erie. Barletta was housed, fed, and given therapy at Southdown at a significant cost to the parishioners of Erie, which is detailed in Diocesan records.
\n\u201cDeeper in the recesses of the diocesan secret archives was a handwritten note from 1968. In this note, [The Bishop] wrote that Barletta, \u2018spends much time in counselling high school boys \u2013 a small number only.\u2019 Thus, the concerns about Barletta appear to have been raised early in his career.\u201d
\nFreeman did two stints at Southdown after \u201che admitted to sexually violating children in at least five of his six ministry assignments.
\nKelley, too, was at Southdown on two separate occasions, according to the report. The first was for a psychological assessment which lasted a week in September 1995. The second was residential treatment from April to September of 1996. He was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with at least five victims between the ages of 18 and 25.
\n\u201cPer his [assessment at Southdown] it was determined that Kelley should have restricted ministry that kept him away from young parishioners. Kelley disagreed with this assessment and asked Bishop Trautman to send him to a different facility for a second opinion.
\n\u201cA physician from DuBois, PA saw Kelley in 1996 and in March of that year agreed with the course of action that Southdown recommended. Soon afterward, Kelley was sent to Southdown for several months of treatment.\u201d
\nHe died in 2005.
\nOn Monday, Pope Francis released a letter to \u201cthe people of God\u201d responding to these cases in Pennsylvania and others around the globe, stating \u201cwe showed no care for the little ones.\u201d
\n\u201cWith shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives,\u201d he wrote.
\n\u201cWe showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them. I make my own the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger when, during the Way of the Cross composed for Good Friday 2005, he identified with the cry of pain of so many victims and exclaimed: \u2018How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]! How much pride, how much self-complacency! Christ\u2019s betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his body and blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces his heart.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An explosive Grand Jury report on clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dating back to 1947 released last week reveals that seven of more than 300 \u201cpredator priests\u201d within the Catholic church received treatment <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5z0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 18:17:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}