Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth Must Add Names to List of Accused Priests

The names of two abusive clerics that were revealed late last month by the Marianist order must be added to the rosters of abusive priests in the Diocese of Fort Worth. Catholic officials there must also explain why these names were omitted in the first place.

Fr. John N. Schlund and Fr. Daniel A. Triulzi were named as abusers on the list released by the Marianist order in late June. According to the Marianists, Fr. Schlund worked in “Campus Ministry” in Denton, and Fr. Triulzi worked at Nolan Catholic High School in Ft. Worth as well as at St. Mark’s in Denton. Fr. Schlund was removed from ministry in 2004, and Fr. Triulzi was removed in 2006. Catholic  officials in Fort Worth must now give details to the public about when each of these men worked in the Diocese of Fort Worth, where else they may have lived or worked within the diocese, and why their names were not included on the Fort Worth list in the first place.

Bishop Michael Olson should take four immediate steps in the wake of this news. First, he must update his list to include not only these names, but also detailed information about when they worked at each listed location, as well as headshots and the current whereabouts of each man. Second, he should personally visit each location, sharing the information about these abusers and urging other victims and witnesses to come forward to local law enforcement. Third, he should use his position of influence to ask the Marianists to update their own list to ensure it includes detailed timelines for each abusive priest, including when the allegations were received and what actions were taken in response.

Finally, Bishop Olson must explain why these men were not included on his list. Both worked in Forth Worth only with the blessing of diocesan officials, so it seems to us that these names would have been included when the list was first released. We can only wonder how many other religious order priests were left off this list, a move that temporarily protects the reputations of diocesan officials, but which actively endangers children elsewhere.

Bishop Olson cannot passively sit back and wait for the phone to ring now that this information has been released. We hope he will begin his outreach and explaining today.

CONTACT: Lisa Kendzior ([email protected], 817-773-5907), Paul Petersen ([email protected], 972-569-0995), Zach Hiner ([email protected], 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)