Criminal investigation of two priests at Society of St. John

Former member charges cover-up against the bishop and the society

By TOM KANE

SCRANTON — A criminal investigation of two priests from the Society of St. John is being conducted by both the state police and the district attorney of Lackawana County.

Further, accusations of a cover-up are being leveled against the priests and against Bishop James Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton by a priest who was a member of the society until a few months ago.

“We are pursuing information given us by the diocese, and questioning parties to the alleged sexual abuse to see if there is any evidence that would warrant a criminal indictment,” said Lackawana District Attorney Andy Jarbola. “We should be able to reach a conclusion with a few weeks.”

The state police who are also conducting their own investigation, could not be reached for comment.

The two priests, Fathers Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, have been removed from their priestly duties and reside in a retreat house, the location of which has not been released.

In a separate action a week ago, an alleged victim of sexual abuse by the two priests, and his two parents entered an official complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District in Scranton, seeking redress and naming the two priests, the Society of St. John, the Bishop of Scranton and the Fraternity of St. Peter who operate St. Gregory’s Academy, where the alleged abuse took place.

The plaintiffs, John Doe and John Doe, Sr. and Jane Doe of South Carolina, are seeking damages of over $1 million and are demanding a jury trial.

	TRR photo by Tom Kane Bishop James Timlin, celebrating Mass on Easter Sunday, said nothing of the alleged sexual scandal. (Click for larger image)

Bishop Timlin has continuously supported the priests and considers them innocent until proven guilty.

Leveling a pointed accusation against the bishop this past week, Father Richard Munkelt, a former priest-member of the society, said that “ a wholesale cover-up was underway by the Society of St. John and the Diocese of Scranton and that this cover-up would render serious harm to both donors and targets of clerical sexual abuse.”

Munkelt, who was to be a professor in the society’s planned college—College of St. Justin Martyr—along with Dr. Jeffrey Bond, its president, who is also estranged from the society, said that Timlin dismissed his accusations of impropriety regarding the two priests’ practice of sleeping in the same bed with young seminarians.

“Bishop Timlin refused to label Father Urrutigoity’s conduct as immoral, but only perhaps imprudent,” Munkelt said.

“I believe with moral certitude that the Society of St. John is a cult of homosexual predators and their accomplices,” he said.

In a statement printed in the Scranton Times, Timlin said, “The rantings of Father Munkelt are a source of great dismay and sadness to me. His statement is just filled with untruths and false conclusions. I deny that I have been negligent in my dealings with the Society of St. John or anyone else.”

Timlin said he learned of Munkelt’s accusations from a newspaper reporter. “This is not the way a priest is to treat his bishop,” the statement said.

Munkelt is a diocesan priest serving at the pleasure of the bishop.

“It took considerable courage for Father Munkelt to speak out in conscience against his bishop,” Bond said.