“200 angry parishioners”

San Francisco archdiocese suspends priest alleged to have ‘sexual addiction’ and ‘sexual identity’ problems

California Cathlic Daily

06 June 2011

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has placed a Menlo Park pastor on leave for “a boundary violation” after he admitted to following a 17-year-old boy into a clothing store dressing room, prompting a police investigation.

Although police later determined no crime had been committed in the April 19 incident at a Ross Dress For Less store in San Francisco, archdiocesan officials told the press that Fr. William Myers, pastor of St. Raymond Church in Menlo Park since 2007, has been suspended while the archdiocese’s Independent Review Board considers the case.

Fr. Myers is also undergoing treatment for “sexual addiction,” archdiocesan officials said.

“About 200 angry parishioners gathered Wednesday night at St. Raymond Catholic Church on Santa Cruz Avenue to demand answers about the circumstances of Father William Myers’ suspension and express concern for their children,” the San Jose Mercury-News reported on June 2.

San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop William Justice spoke to parishioners at the June 1 meeting at St. Raymond’s, where he told them there had been no reports of any inappropriate behavior by Fr. Myers with children at the parish or its school.

“While at a Ross Dress For Less store in San Francisco, Myers tried to strike up a conversation with the boy, who he did not know, and followed him into a dressing room stall, Justice told parishioners,” said the Mercury News account. “The boy’s father immediately intervened and there was no physical contact between Myers and the boy, officials said.”

Archdiocesan spokesman George Wesolek told the newspaper that the teen’s father became “upset about something that was done, or he thought was going to happen.”

“When we talk in our guidelines about appropriate boundaries, we’re not talking necessarily about something sexual all the time,” the Mercury News quoted Wesolek as saying. “It could be just an inappropriate situation.”

“For example,” the story explained, “it would be a violation to meet with a minor behind a closed door — something that multiple parents at Wednesday’s meeting claimed Myers did.”

San Francisco police confirmed they were called to the store about 1:30 p.m. on April 19, but no arrests were made, said the Mercury News account.

The archdiocese maintains it did not learn of the incident until May 26 when someone called to chancery and told archdiocesan officials what had happened. The next day, the archdiocese placed Fr. Myers on leave.

Fr. Myers was transferred to the archdiocese from the Diocese of Stockton 11 years ago. KTVU News and the San Francisco Weekly reported that Bishop Justice told St. Raymond’s parishioners that Fr. Myers had admitted to his superiors that he had a “sexual addiction” and had undergone therapy around the time of his ordination in Stockton because he was “struggling with sexual identity.”

Wesolek, according to the Mercury News said the archdiocese had been unaware of Fr. Myers’ problems with his sexuality until the meeting with parishioners.

Bishop Justice told the parishioners, according to the Mercury News, that Fr. Myers “took time off in the mid-90s from the Diocese of Stockton to seek therapy because he was struggling with his sexual identity…”

While Bishop Justice said there had been no complaints against Fr. Myers for the 11 years he has worked in the archdiocese, some parishioners at St. Raymond weren’t buying it. Reported the Mercury News: “‘The Catholic Church has a history of moving priests with problems to unknowing parishes,’ one man said. ‘I think that’s what happened here.’”

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