Three postings of yesterday I want to make mention of, the first two with brief comment, the third in more depth:
(1) 16 June 2010: Bishop says he was pressured into resignation
Pathetic isn’t it? A bishop of the Church wailing ‘they made me do it,” now threatening legal action against his fellow bishops who presumably forced him to resign
Oh to be a little fly on the wall watching the finger-pointing and blame game behind closed doors. I would guess what we hear of here is no more than the teeny-weeny tip of iceberg.
(2) 16 June 2010: Clamping down on abusers: A Divine Sense of Duty
Way to go all you victims of Don Grecco. And way to go Michael Blum and James Hennessey. Way to go. It’s not easy as a victim to have your name splashed out there in the spotlight. Way to go for having the courage to come forward, and way to go for speaking out publicly. Your strength will give others the strength to come forward. Your courage will remind other victims that there is no shame in being a victim, that the shame of sexual abuse belongs to your abuser and every single person who enabled, protected and/or covered-up for him.
One other thing. I had wondered if Grecco was carrying on with his grief counselling after he was charged. I gather from this article that the counselling came to an end after charges were laid?
Final question: Has anyone heard a single boo about former Bishop James Wingle? Anonymous, have you seen him around Jerusalem in the past couple of weeks?
It’s now been over two months since Wingle’s resignation (07 April 2010). Two months and no one knows where he is? http://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/rc-scandal/canada/james-wingle/
(3) 1990: Canadian Press coverage on sex assault allegations against Redemptorist priest Father Gerald Keindel
Some time ago I was wondering whatever became of the sex assault charges against Father Gerald Keindel, better know as Tex Keindel.
There is the answer. The charges were stayed. There is nothing to indicate why they were stayed. I suppose it could have been that Keindel’s accuser was sick, or she was scared to take the stand, or perhaps she was intimidated, or perhaps even paid off and gagged? I have no idea. I try to think of reasons for a stay and those are possibilities I come up with. Does anyone know any more?
After getting this news I decided to take a closer look through a few Canadian Catholic Church Directories (CCCD) to see what I could find about the whereabouts of Father Gerald Keindel after the charges were stayed. I had previously posted a bio on him (Tex (Gerald) Keindel CSsR Bio) which seems to have been compiled by him. I used that information but decided to see how it marries up with the CCCD.
Interesting and confusing.
There seems to be no doubt that right after he was charged and the charges were stayed Keindel was shipped off to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,
But was he in Moose Jaw from 1990 to 1996, and in Saskatoon Saskatchewan from 1996 to 2001?
That’s a hard one to figure out.
First, an explanation of the structure and presentation of informationcontained in the CCCD. They books have changed somewhat over the years, but always there is an index of priests at the back. The index lists every priest in Canada and gives what is supposed to be his current address and phone number as well as his date of ordination and the Diocese in which he is currently incardinated.
There is another section of the CCCD called the Index of Parishes. The Index of Parishes lists each Roman Catholic church in every diocese, as well as the address and phone number for the church, and the Catholic population served by that particular church. It also identifies the priest in charge of the parish, usually the pastor. In some instances the Index of Parishes lists the names of all priests who are serving in that particular church, this can be the case where, for example, the church is serving a large Catholic population and requires several priests in residence. It is not always done – frequently only the name listed is that of the pastor – but sometimes there is that list of names affiliated with a particular church.
In instances where there is more than one priest at a church but only the name of the pastor is shown it is easy enough to find out which church a priest is affiliated with or living in rectory at by checking his address and phone number as listed in the Index of Priests, then it’s a case of marrying that information up with a particular church in the Index of Parishes.
Sometimes the directories are out by a year, If a priest is transferred after the information has gone to the publisher for printing the new CCCD will not accurately reflect the location of that particular priest. And sometimes the CCCD is just wrong. That seems to be rare, but I have encountered one or two instances where it happened. I have also encountered one instance where a priest wasn’t listed in the CCCD for several years – yet I personally knew which diocese and parish he was serving in in those years.
So, bottom line, the CCCD is a guide. It is usually accurate, and it is usually wise to allow for a one year discrepancy.
That said, here is the confusion with where Father Keindel was after he was charged and the charges were stayed in 1990.
A reminder again that, according to Keindel’s bio, he served in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan from 1990 to 1996, and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from 1996 to 2001.
Here is the information I pulled together from the CCCDs (the information from the Index of Parishes in the CCCD)
1991: address in Index of Priests =St. Joseph Church. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (Pastor Father R. McNally CSsR)
1992: address in Index of Priests =St. Joseph, Moose Jaw (Pastor Father R. McNally CSsR) (CCCD)
1995: address in Index of Priests =St Joseph, Moose Jaw Saskatchewan ( priests listed at St. Joseph’s in Index of Parishes: Fathers R. McNally CSsR, K. Zabawa CSsR and G. Keindel CSsR) (CCCD)
1996: address in Index of Priests =St. Joseph, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (priests listed at St. Joseph’s in Index of Parishes: Fathers R. McNally CSsR, K. Zabawa CSsR and J Phelan CSsR) (CCCD)
1997: address in Index of Priests =St. Joseph, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (priests listed at St. Joseph’s in Index of Parishes: Fathers D. Furlonger CSsR, A. Sterzer CSsR, J. Phelan CSsR, David Cottingham CSsR) (CCCD)
1998: address in Index of Priests =St. Joseph, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. (priests listed at St. Joseph’s in Index of Parishes: Fathers D. Furlonger CSsR, A. Sterzer CSsR, J. Phelan CSsR, David Cottingham CSsR) (CCCD)
Note again that Keindel indicates he left Moose Jaw in 1996 and then served in Saskatoon from 1996 to 2002.
Note however that, according to the CCDs, Keindel was in Moose Jaw through to 1998.
Note too that Keindel’s name is listed in the Index of Parishes in the1995 directory but, despite the fact that his address is that of St. Joseph’s, his name is no longer listed in the parish indices of 1996-1998.
So, two puzzles: (1) if Keindel was at St. Joseph’s why is his name not listed in the Index of Parishes after 1995? (2) If Kendel was indeed in Saskatoon as of 1996 why is his address in the CCCD still St. Joseph’s in Moose Jaw?
As I said above, I could see the 1997 CCCD being off by a year, but I have trouble understanding how it could be wrong in 1998 as well.
If anyone can explain this I would appreciate clarification.
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Please note TH’s comment of yesterday. (Yes, despite the crash and loss I had a copy filed and was able to restore it – not the right date, but the message is there in tact)
Those with allegations against Father Hod Marshall please contact Officer Gaston Levesque Windsor Police, Special Victims Branch with the Windsor police. Levesque is in charge of the file. He can be reached at this number:
519-255-6700 (Ext. 4310)
And thank you TH for relaying that important piece of information.
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My webhost’s servers crashed. Things are geting fixed up. I can operate to a degree right now. Comments are getting through, and I can post a blog. It’s getting there 🙂
Enough for now
Sylvia
(contact me at cornwall@theinquiry.ca)