MO- Child sex lawsuit filed against Chaminade

Child sex lawsuit filed against Chaminade

SNAP: “No MO Catholic school has had more predators”

This accused cleric was arrested in IL on child sex charge 

He's one of eight credibly accused abusive local Marianists

One of them, “outed” in 2012, now faces at least 15 accusers

Group urges local Catholic officials to “post predators names 

And it urges other victims, witnesses & whistleblowers to “speak up” 

WHAT:

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that another clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit is being filed against a West County Catholic school called Chaminade Prep.

They will also prod Chaminade officials to publicly disclose and post on the school website the names, photos and current whereabouts of all credibly accuse child molesters who have worked there 

And they will beg victims of predators at Chaminade, Vianney and St. Mary’s high schools to NOT contact church or school officials, but instead to contact law enforcement

WHEN:

Wednesday, April 9 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Outside the Marianist headquarters, 4425 W. Pine (near corner of Newstead) in the city’s CWE

WHO:

3-4 members of an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY: 

A Missouri man, Chris Boisaubin, is suing Chaminade Prep and a Catholic religious order called the Marianists for the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of Brother John J. Woulfe at the school. It's at least the second suit accusing Br. Woulfe of assaulting kids. (The first one was in 2002, when a Florida man named Michael Powel reported that Br. Woulfe and another Marianist, Fr. William Christensen, sexually abused him, also at Chaminade.)

In the early 1970s, Boisaubin was a boarding student at Chaminade, which is operated by the St. Louis-based Marianists. Br. Woulfe was a teacher, mentor, coach and counselor there for nine years (mostly the 70s). The suit charges that “knew or were substantially certain that Br. Woulfe would assault students” because they “put Br. Woulfe at an all-boys school with knowledge that he had sexually assaulted boys in the past.”

After leaving Chaminade, Woulfe lived in Watseka, Illinois (in Iroquois County, near Bloomington), taught in a public school there and was arrested on child sex charges.

http://blog.godreports.com/2012/10/sex-abuse-victim-forgave-his-priest-and-his-church/

http://www.judici.com/courts/cases/case_information.jsp?court=IL038025J&ocl=IL038025J,2002CF49,IL038025JL2002CF49D1

Boisaubin repressed his memories of the crimes until 2012, according to the suit.

At least eight local Marianists have been publicly named as credibly accused pedophiles – Fr. Charles H. Miller, Brother Louis J. Meinhardt, Fr. William Christensen, Fr. Robert R. Osborne, Brother William Mueller, Fr. Daniel A. Triulzi, Brother Tony Pistone and Woulfe. (All but Miller worked at Chaminade.) Abuse lawsuits have been settled against Triulzi, Osborne and Mueller., Meinhardt, who was at Chaminade for 30 years, was publicly exposed for the first time in 2012 and faces at least 15 accusers.

SNAP wants officials at Chaminade, Vianney, the Marianists, and the archdiocese to “come clean” about abuse in Marianist schools, disclose ALL names of proven, admitted and credibly accused Marianists (whether living or deceased, lay or ordained, current or former). The group is also prodding everyone who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or cover ups by Marianists to call police, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

SNAP is especially worried about two Marianist predators: 

1) Fr. Miller, who taught at St. Louis University in the 1970s. In 2005, a woman reported to Marianist officials that Miller began grooming her in 1976 when she was 14 years old and began molesting her three years later when she turned 17. After a two-year-long investigation, Marianists determined that the woman’s accusations were “credible.” During their investigation, church officials uncovered evidence that Miller had perpetrated this same behavior with at least two other teenagers.

However, instead of defrocking Miller, in 2007, church officials sent him to the Marianist headquarters in Rome, where he is believed to still be working today, among (SNAP claims) unsuspecting colleagues and families.

2) Fr. Christensen, who also worked at Chaminade Prep and was sued for forcing oral and anal sex on a boy. Fr. Christensen also worked in Bangladesh for 20 years – and may still be there - and is accused of abusing at least 30 kids there..

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_07_12/2005_09_08_Lieb_MissouriCourt.htm 

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/01_02/2011_01_19_Salter_GroupSeeks.htm

Fr. Martin Solma, the top Marianist official, is at [email protected], 533-1207. He's also a defendant in the suit. Chaminade is at 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd. (in Creve Coeur). St. Louis lawyer Gerald Noce (480 4160) represents the Marianists. St. Louis attorneys Nicole Gorovsky (872 8420) and Ken Chackes (369 3902 cell, [email protected]) represent several victims of Marianists, including the victim in today's lawsuit.

A photo of Woulfe, and other information about him, is available at http://www.bishop-accountability.org/member/psearch.jsp He died in 2005.

CONTACT:
David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director (314) 566 9790, [email protected], Barb Dorris, SNAP Outreach Director (314) 503 0003, [email protected]