Painful Secrets

Father Gilbert Gauthe, a Roman Catholic priest, delivered spellbinding funeral sermons, won local respect by rescuing a man who was trapped under an overturned tractor, and impressed many older women with his charm in Louisiana's Vermilion Parish. But most of all, he was a Pied Piper for the children. He would take them on wilderness trips, play games and invite favored boys to spend the weekend in the rectory.

Now Gauthe finds himself at the center of a scandal that has shaken his community and may lead to his imprisonment. This fall he is expected to face trial on 34 criminal counts involving sexual abuse of boys. The worst charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison at hard labor. Gauthe, 40, who was suspended from his priestly functions in 1983, is pleading not guilty on grounds of insanity. In 1984, in depositions for ten civil suits brought by the victims' families, Gauthe said that he had committed sexual acts with 35 or more boys over eleven years.

The Gauthe affair, investigated by Catholic Journalist Jason Berry in the Times of Acadiana of Lafayette, La., is one of 15 deeply painful and perplexing cases that have surfaced during the past month in which priests have been charged with pedophilia. The weekly National Catholic Reporter, after months of research by three reporters, unearthed nine of these incidents in seven states during the past seven years.

Among the current cases: Father Mel Baltazar of Boise was sentenced to seven years in prison last January for lewd conduct with a 15-year-old boy. Father David Boyea of White Lake, Wis., goes on trial this month on three felony charges involving minor boys. Rhode Island Priest P. Henry Leech is scheduled for an August trial on eight such charges, and in that same state Priest William O'Connell, who was already facing 24 charges relating to perhaps twelve or more youths, was arraigned last week on two additional counts. In San Diego, Monsignor Rudolph Galindo, former rector of the San Diego | cathedral, denied committing sexual improprieties with a Vietnamese immigrant altar boy, but in May the archdiocese agreed to a $75,000 settlement with the youngster's family. A related lawsuit brought by the boy's father is pending.

Pederasty is a puzzling perversion, which to many experts seems essentially incurable. The only solution, they suggest, is eliminating close contact between pederasts and boys. The disorder does not appear to affect any particular occupational group and remains a rarity among priests. Reporter Editor Thomas Fox says that there is a heightened awareness of child abuse and "parents are more willing to go to court to pursue justice instead of asking the bishop to reassign the priest."

Last year six families, charging negligence, collected $4.2 million from diocesan insurers. Eleven pending civil suits ask a total of more than $100 million. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles also faces claims over Father David Roemer, who pleaded no contest in three cases of child molesting in 1981. But a New Jersey family whose son killed himself after he was allegedly molested by a Franciscan brother had its suit thrown out. The victim was a participant in youth ministries, and a state law exempts organizations like the Archdiocese of Newark from damage suits by those who use and benefit from its services.

In an editorial last month, the Reporter asserted that local bishops and the national hierarchy have been grievously ill prepared to deal with complaints about sexual abuse of children. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops press spokesman, Bill Ryan, rejects such "blanket accusations." But two weeks ago the U.S. bishops' conference, meeting in Minnesota, discussed the problem behind closed doors and asked a committee to study sexual abuse by priests.

Some dioceses have already taken action. After a 1983 scandal involving Father Thomas Laughlin, the Portland archdiocese reminded its personnel of state laws requiring that signs of suspected child abuse be reported. The archdiocese also set up a special panel to evaluate complaints. According to guidelines issued last month for all New Jersey dioceses, reports of abuse are to be referred immediately to state authorities and diocesan officials, an accused priest is to be removed from contact with children until the case is cleared up, and families and children are to be offered church counseling.