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Father John Fiala (Inset at Coming More Urban and Cohe- Right) Is the Subject of Allegations of Abuse of a Rocksprings Boy

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Father John Fiala (Inset at Coming More Urban and Cohe- Right) Is the Subject of Allegations of Abuse of a Rocksprings Boy R Sunday, February 20, 2011 mySA.com The voice of South Texas since 1865 FIRSTBIG12LOSS RODEO ROUNDUP INSIDE FORLONGHORNS Bulls, Eli Young Band Nebraska edges No. 3 UT SPPOOORTSRTS and $85,000 steer $43 IN COUPONS TODAY SAVINGS THIS YEAR: $1,332 TASTE: CHILI EXPERTS SHARE TIPS SUNDAY FOCUS 2010 CENSUS EXCLUSIVE: THIS STORY IS ONLY IN TODAY’S PRINT EDITION Growing THE CHURCH pains come AND THE PRIEST with rise in Accusations of abuse ignored population Area counties have to deal with residents’ increased expectations. BY ZEKE MACCORMACK, JOHN MACCORMACK Tracking AND ELAINE AYALA zmaccormack@express-news.net growth Largest As civic leaders in San Anto- population nio and surrounding communi- increases (by ties began digesting new census percentage) in figures released Thursday, the the region: implications of the region’s 25 Counties percent population increase were both gratifying and sober- GUADALUPE ing. 47.8% For starters, the eight-county JERRY LARA/glara@express-news.net area, with a population of more KENDALL than 2.1 million,is rapidly be- 40.7% The altar of Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Rocksprings. Father John Fiala (inset at coming more urban and cohe- right) is the subject of allegations of abuse of a Rocksprings boy. sive, is more ethnically and eco- COMAL nomically diverse, and appears on course for continued rapid 39.0% BY ABE LEVY News reveal a rocky mySA.com expansion. alevy@express-news.net odyssey for a priest Check online “I don’t think the growth is Communities whose career began in- Wednesday going to stop,” said Judge Mike SELMA y the time Father John Fiala arrived conspicuously in the Mid- to read copies of Wigginsof Guadalupe County, at a West Texas parish in 2005, he had west and collapsed with complaints against which saw a jump of 48 percent 603% amassed a two-decade ministry record criminal charges and a Father John Fiala, as since 2000, from 89,000 to 131,000. so troublesome that Catholic leaders lawsuit alleging the rape CIBOLO well as memos and “We’re predicting the popula- were feuding over ways to wash their of a 16-year-old boy in tion will double again by 2027, 406% correspondence hands of him. Rocksprings. and that seems like a long time among church leaders Parishioners in Nebraska had told The youth sued Fiala away. But if we’re not ready, it TIMBERWOOD him to stay away from their adolescent sons. A psy- last spring. Months later, discussing his will swallow us,” he said. PARK Bchologist said he was narcissistic, naïve and dis- Fiala was arrested on behavior. Comal and Kendall counties 128% played potentially harmful sexuality. charges of sexually as- saw growth of around 40 per- Catholic authorities said Fiala deceived them saulting him and a Dallas County charge accusing Source: U.S. Census Look up about his behavior, yet he was transferred from Fiala of soliciting a hit man to kill the teenager. See COUNTIES/21A parish to parish. He was suspended and not al- Victims groups say Fiala’s case amounts to an- census figures by city or lowed to work as a priest in Nebraska. He later other sex-abuse cover-up by the Catholic Church ROBERT RIVARD: S.A. growth was reinstated in Texas. county at belies challenge. Metro, 3B Documents obtained by the San Antonio Express- See PRIEST/6A mySA.com. House GOP wins Crackdowns fail to muzzle Arab protesters BY JANINE ZACHARIA on $60 billion cut Washington Post MANAMA, Bahrain — The uprisings sweeping BY DAVID M. HERSZENHORN the Arab world showed little sign of abating Sat- New York Times urday as protesters from Bahrain to Libya to Ye- men returned to the streets to demand greater WASHINGTON — The House vote early Satur- freedoms in defiance of government crackdowns. day to slash more than $60 billion from the federal The demonstrations have left entrenched leaders budget over the next seven months shows how — some of whom have held power for decades — powerfully the anti-spending fervor of the Novem- scrambling to figure out how to maintain control ber elections is driving the new Republican major- amid criticism from abroad of the heavy-handed ity’s efforts to shrink the size and scope of govern- tactics they long have used to sustain their rule. ment. In Bahrain, demonstrators triumphantly return- It puts the two parties on a path to a succession ed to the Pearl Square traffic circle after the mil- of showdowns over the deficit and the nation’s itary pulled back on government orders. But in Li- growing debt. bya, security forces fired on mourners departing The House bill would impose sharp spending re- funerals for protesters killed in the eastern city of ductions in nearly every area of government in- Benghazi, leaving 15 people dead, the Associated cluding domestic programs, foreign aid and even ASSOCIATED PRESS Press reported. some military projects. Protesters rush an injured man to a hospital in Manama, Bahrain. The Human Rights Watch reported that security kingdom’s monarchy is attempting to open negotiations with the See BUDGET/4A demonstrators and ordered the military to back down. See ARAB/19A HIGH LOW Books 6K Drive 1F Movies 3K S.A. Life 1K Money burning a hole Mostly cloudy Classified 1E Editorials 8B Puzzles 11K Sports 1C in your pocket? Full report, 16C Deaths 5B Metro/State 1B Real Estate 1D Travel 1J Click on: Shop Weather 74 60 Index S NOW THRU MARCH 6 ONLY MAJESTIC THEATRE BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com, Ticketmaster.com, the Majestic Box Office, or 800-982-ARTS (2787) 6A SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2011 PRIEST CONTINUED FROM 1A and a failure to uphold land- mark 2002 reforms by U.S. bish- ops that called for greater transparency and zero tolerance for abuse. The trail of complaints against Fiala began in the 1980s. In Nebraska, a business- man claimed Fiala targeted his eighth-grade son in 1988. The father, who the Express-News is not naming to protect his son’s identity, says Catholic supervi- sors broke promises then to ban the priest from all ministry with children and adolescents. “I have no idea — I shudder to think — how many other children (Fiala) has harmed since 1988,” the man stated in a 2010 affidavit letter to Texas au- thorities after the Rocksprings teen filed suit. “My church could have prevented any fur- ther harm if they would have acted responsibly, but they chose not to.” Fiala’s attorney did not re- I am so sorry to inform you that the complaints of some of the I hereby suspend you, as a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, turn calls for comment. Fiala people in Our Lady of Victory Parish concerning “imprudent from the public exercise of your priestly faculties until and unless denied sexual misconduct throughout the documents. Last behavior” with the youth of that parish, have reached the you cooperate with the appropriate program we have discussed month, the Archdioceses of San desk of the Bishop and the Diocese has decided not to give regarding your personal and pastoral well-being. I am placing Antonio and Omaha, Fiala’s re- your ministerial faculties in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. notice of this suspension of faculties in The Catholic Voice ligious order and the Diocese of because it has implications for the good order of the archdiocese. Corpus Christi announced set- Fr. James H. Flanagan, SOLT tlements with the Rocksprings leader of Fiala’s religious order, Most Reverend Elden Francis Curtiss teenager. Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Archbishop of Omaha The documents raise serious questions about their role in supervising Fiala and map out Copies of these letters and other complaints against Father John Fiala, as well as memos and correspondence among church leader s discussing his the same type of cover-up of behavior, will be posted online Wednesday at MySA.com. abusive priests by Catholic hie- rarchy in decades past, said Da- vid Clohessyof St. Louis, the sulted with the Ralston police ha, where he was told again to national director for the Survi- chief and then told the investi- return. vors Network of those Abused Father John Fiala gator she “could not confirm The Omaha archdiocese by Priests. 1984-96: Fiala was ordained a priest in nor deny” having information sent the order 30 pages to prove “When child-molesting clerics the Archdiocese of Omaha; assigned to on Fiala. Fiala was properly transferred are caught, church officials flee seven parishes; ignored parents who and should not be returned. like rats from a sinking ship, banned him from their adolescent sons; A hot potato The order’s founder, in a each one distancing himself as sent to at least three treatment centers and Fiala also worried psycholo- 2010 affidavit, blamed a former much as possible from the ended his tenure in suspension. gists. Omaha chancellor for describ- criminal,” he said. “Top church He “lacks mature judgment ing Fiala’s record in Nebraska 1996-98: He began to transfer into supervisors pretend to be pow- and is impulsive,” one hired by as free of any misconduct and Robstown-based Society of Our Lady of the erless while splitting hairs and the Omaha archdiocese report- calling him suitable for a trans- Most Holy Trinity. Former Corpus Christi passing the buck to others. ed in 1988. He “finds himself fer in a 1995 phone conversa- Bishop Rene Gracida reinstated his drawn very easily into dealing tion. credentials and then rescinded them amid Early complaints with young men. At this point, By 2004, Fiala demanded complaints of imprudent behavior with Fiala, who was born and I perceive that that is out of a the order resume his financial youths while at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Beeville.
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