May 1, 2004

A Second Open Letter to Bishop Joseph F. Martino

Your Excellency,

It has been seven months since you were installed as the Bishop of Scranton on October 1, 2003.  Those of us who have battled to expose the grave immorality of the Society of St. John have waited patiently to see if you would fulfill your duty to protect the young souls of your diocese against this group of perverted priests, but to date you have done nothing even though you have been warned repeatedly about their misconduct.

Not only have you failed to take action against the Society of St. John, but you have even neglected to inform yourself fully and properly of the harm these priests have done.  Last November, when the members of the board of the College of St. Justin Martyr requested a meeting with you to present you with evidence against the priests of the SSJ, you refused to meet with us.  When we demonstrated in a second letter last December that your reasons for refusing to meet with us were based upon false information, you never even responded.

Consider the following facts.

Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who has been thrice accused of homosexual molestation, and Fr. Eric Ensey, who is under criminal investigation in California for molesting a minor, travel about in clerical garb with no apparent restrictions.  Despite the credible accusations against them, they freely mingle with minors.  You can see this with your own eyes on the web site of the Society of St. John where there are pictures of Urrutigoity participating in the Holy Week celebrations on the SSJ's property in Shohola.  Note well that boys and young men appear in these pictures, and that the SSJ even boasts that "many of the local teenagers" help them out with their celebrations.

As you know, Urrutigoity and Ensey have recently filed affidavits in the million dollar plus federal lawsuit filed against them, the SSJ, and the Diocese of Scranton.  In these affidavits Urrutigoity and Ensey swear that their psychosexual evaluations were never intended for Bishop Timlin's eyes, even though he requested they be evaluated so that he could determine if they were dangerous to children.  Bishop Timlin now claims that he never read the evaluations that he himself requested (even though he refers in a letter to a troubling evaluation of Ensey who has a problem with pornography).

But regardless of what your predecessor did or did not do, it is now your duty as Bishop of Scranton, in keeping with the Dallas Charter, to request these psychosexual evaluations be turned over to you so that you can determine just how dangerous these priests are to young souls in your diocese.

If your own priests refuse to provide you with copies of their evaluations, then how can they continue to serve as priests under your authority?  And if they claim their lawyers will not permit them to turn over these evaluations, then clearly you must require them to undergo new evaluations.  You can no longer hide behind the fact that these priests committed crimes on Bishop Timlin's watch.  You are now fully responsible for the fact that they are free to groom and molest new victims under the guise of their clerical collars.

Your inaction with respect to the Society of St. John has been highlighted by your recent announcement that a financial crisis in the Diocese of Scranton has compelled you to close two Catholic elementary schools in Pittston.  Yet you permit the Society of St. John to live like kings on a 2.9 million dollar property in Shohola, fashionably equipped with $134,000 of luxurious furniture, including a $6,828 bar, a $2,885 cocktail table, a $7,845 entertainment center, a $12,995 desk, a $15,000 bedroom set, and a $26,480 dining table.  Although the SSJ has wasted more than $5,000,000 given by Catholic donors for a Catholic village and a college, nonetheless last summer Bishop Timlin admitted to Mark Guydish of the Times Leader that he was arranging loans for the Society of St. John since they could not pay off their debts.

Here, then, is the question that all concerned Catholics should be asking:  How in good conscience can you shut down Catholic elementary schools while allowing these corrupt clerics to continue to live in luxury?

Pax tecum,