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Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
06/07/2012
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DAVID ANDREATTA

Diocese publicizes names of priests in abuse
cases
Byline: DAVID ANDREATTA
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has published the names of 23 priests it has removed from
ministry over the last 10 years because the church found complaints of sexual abuse against them to be
credible.
Most of the priests had been previously identified in media reports or by the diocese itself, but the latest list,
published Wednesday in the diocese's monthly Catholic Courier newspaper, provides for the first time the
dispensation of their cases under the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.
For example, seven of the priests were not dismissed from the priesthood but were instead restricted to a life
of "prayer and penance" in which each is "expected to dedicate his life to praying for victims and repenting
for his past offenses" in addition to being removed from ministry.
One of those priests, Robert Winterkorn, who served at St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, left
the church nearly 20 years ago after admitting to an affair with a female parishioner that began when she was
underage.
Five priests voluntarily withdrew from the priesthood, while five others have been placed on administrative
leave and removed from public ministry pending the outcome of their canonical proceedings.
Two priests were involuntarily defrocked, including Eugene Emo, the former pastor at St. Januarius Church
in Naples, Ontario County, who served six months in jail in 1997 after pleading guilty to molesting a
30-year-old disabled man.
Complaints against four other priests remain unresolved because the priests either died in the midst of
proceedings or the allegation was brought after their death, according to the diocese's list.
Publication of the list was intended to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the creation of the charter, which
established procedures and requirements in the church for handling complaints of sexual abuse of minors.
In an accompanying column, Bishop Matthew Clark apologized to abuse victims and praised the efforts of
the diocese in stamping out sexual abuse. To that end, he wrote, publishing the names of wrongdoers was
"the right and proper thing to do."

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 "I take this step to further the cause of openness and transparency in this critical issue, to create a resource
and a checkpoint for any victim who might come forward, to assist the process of restoring trust and to help
victims in their healing," Clark wrote. "I have weighed this decision carefully, and feel it is the right and
proper thing to do."
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims' advocacy group known as SNAP, was less
enthusiastic, expressing particular indignation over the notion that "prayer and penance" was punishment
enough for some abusive priests.
"Isn't their job to pray and repent?" asked Marianne Barone Trent, who lives in Oswego County but is the
leader of the Rochester chapter of SNAP.
"What does that do?" Trent asked of the list. "They're showing their transparency now? It's too little, too
late."
The Catholic Courier described the "prayer and penance" disposition as one given in cases in which priests
either admitted sexually abusing a minor or were found to have committed abuse, but they were not
dismissed from "the clerical state" because they were seriously ill or of advanced age.
Diocese spokesman Doug Mandelaro said the seven priests restricted to "prayer and penance" are all retired
and that none receive salaries or stipends or live on church property. They do receive pensions, however, and
theoretically remain priests but are forbidden from presenting themselves as priests.
"They have been exposed publicly, and the thing that they dedicated their whole life to has been taken from
them - their ability to perform public ministry," Mandelaro said. "The question is, is that punishment? The
church in its wisdom believes that if they follow the rules of prayer and penance that would be punishment."
The diocese is not the first to publish the names of priests removed from ministry.
The Archdiocese of Boston, where the nation's priest sexual abuse scandal exploded a decade ago, published
a list of 136 names last year, and other dioceses have since followed.
How revelatory the Rochester list will be to the public and the 314,000 registered Catholics in the 12 counties
the diocese serves was difficult to ascertain.
Twenty of the 23 names had already been reported, in some cases numerous times, by the media over the last
10 years.
Nearly half of them were first reported in relation to sexual abuse charges as early as 2002, according to a
search of newspaper archives across the state.
Others appeared to be have been out of the public eye for some time.
In addition, the diocese claims to abide by a policy of informing its parishes of priests against whom
allegations have found to be credible.
The diocese maintains a victims' assistance unit and encourages victims to call (585) 328-3228 ext. 1215 to
report abuse or receive guidance.
DANDREAT@DemocratandChronicle.com

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 Twitter.com/dandreattaDandC
Digital extras
Click on this article at DemocratandChronicle.com for links to Bishop Matthew Clark's column, the list of
names published by the diocese and the list published by the Boston diocese.

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Art caption: Clark
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