Three former leaders of a Franciscan religious order in Pennsylvania have been charged with felonies on Tuesday. They are alleged of allowing a friar, who was a known sexual predator, from having contact and working repeatedly with children.
According to The New York Times, the friar identified as Brother Stephen Baker, pulled out students form their classes for "private physical therapy sessions." He has worked as A high school athletic trainer for a decade wherein he reportedly told students to undress for massages. He stabbed himself in 2013 and left a note apologizing for his actions.
This is the first time that members of a Roman Catholic religious order have been charged for aiding an abuser. It has also been a rare case wherein supervisors are accused of covering up abusers. The three former Franciscan Friars have been identified as Giles A. Schinelli, 73, Robert J. D'Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, The Washington Post reported. They are accused of being aware of the abuse by Baker and not reporting him to the police or removing him from positions that have contact with children.
The state's attorney general, Kathleen Kane, said in a statement that the three former friars were more concerned with protecting the image of the order than with the people that they served. The charges against the three former friars came two weeks after it has been announced that 50 priests and other church employees were found to have molested hundreds of children in Roman Catholic diocese throughout Pennsylvania for more than 40 years.
Brother Baker is accused of assaulting 88 children after he joined the order in the early 1970s. He was a teacher and a coach aside from being an athletic trainer in Roman catholic schools in Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio. This was before he came to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown in 1992.
Schinelli, who was the minister provincial at the Bishop McCort High School from 1986 to 1994, was notified regarding the accusations against Brother Baker when he was in Ohio. He allagedly received recommendations to keep Brother Baker away from children but still assigned him to the high school.
The successor of Schinelli, D'Aversa, removed Brother Baker from the school in 2000 after new allegations surfaced. However, he did not notify the school officials or authorities. Two years after, Criscitelli took over the post and allowed Brother Baker to hold overnight retreats at a local college, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The charged friars have issued a statement regarding the charges. They are saddened by the news and hope the investigation will help "shed light on events that the Province, too, struggles to understand." They ended their statement saying they are extending their most sincere apologies to the victims and the communities harmed.
