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Not-So-Good Standing

Disgraced Local Priest Raises Funds at Boise Cathedral; San Diego Sent a Letter of Good Standing

BY ROBERT KUMPEL

What do an Idaho bishop trying to improve his image, an errant priest trying to salvage his vocation, an interdenominational charity staving off scandal, and Bishop Brom have in common? All are players in what appears to be a careless mistake that has heaped embarrassment upon everyone involved.

On June 19, Father Robert White, 62, a priest incardinated to the Diocese of San Diego, was assigned to offer all the morning Masses at St. John's Cathedral in Boise, Idaho while the cathedral's pastor, Father Henry Carmona, was on vacation. This is the same Father White who was removed from Sacred Heart Parish in Ocean Beach in July 1996 after the housekeeper discovered messages from online homosexual chat-rooms; the same Father White who used $250,000 of parish money to enhance the rectory, including installing a Jacuzzi in the pastor's suite; the same Father White who spent less than one month in a treatment center; and the same Father White who was rejected in 1998 by the parishioners of St. Catherine Laboure parish in Clairemont. Father White moved to Florida in 1999 to work, with the diocese's permission, for the charity Food for the Poor. Father White took over the cathedral Masses that Sunday in Boise ostensibly to raise money for the charity.

One cathedral usher, Mike Hoyne, said he immediately sensed something suspicious about Father White, and he decided to pursue his hunch. "First I called the parish office," Hoyne explained, "then the chancellor of the diocese and neither knew anything about him. They told me I'd have to talk to Father Henry, but he was on vacation."

Hoyne's search led him to the News Notes website, where he found archived stories documenting Father White's troubled past. "I didn't come upon this until about two weeks after he said the Masses. I called the parish and the diocese and I wanted to talk to the bishop and the pastor."

Hoyne questioned the wisdom of having a priest with Father White's past preaching at the cathedral, especially given recent history at the parish. "We had just had a problem," he explained, "with one of our deacons getting caught with child pornography. He's in the federal penitentiary now."

He added, "It's my understanding of canon law that you can't just come in to a parish to say Mass unless you've been more or less certified that you are who you are. I just couldn't understand why they didn't know who this man is."

The bishop of Boise, Michael Driscoll, didn't need any more problems. Driscoll has published three public apologies since 2002 for his role in protecting sexually abusive clergy. The latest apology, seeking forgiveness for not informing parishioners about the above-mentioned deacon, Rapelyea "Rap" Howell, during a nine-month FBI investigation that led to his conviction, was released just four days before Father White's visit to Boise. Hoyne's inquiry backed Bishop Driscoll into another corner.

But the Father White situation may not have been the Boise prelate's fault. Bishop Driscoll did inquire about Father White to the San Diego diocese. (A "good standing letter" is a required procedure for all visiting clergy in the Boise diocese.) Diocesan Vicar, Monsignor Steve Callahan, replied to the inquiry in which Driscoll specifically asked if White had ever behaved in a way indicating "he might engage in sexual behavior inconsistent with priestly celibacy" and whether he was ever involved in "any incident ... that might adversely affect his performance as a priest." Callahan replied to Driscoll in a letter dated February 1, claiming that after reviewing White's personnel records he could affirm White's "good moral character and reputation".

Monsignor Callahan did not return email questions regarding Father White's standing with the San Diego Diocese, but instead had Diocesan Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia forward the following statement:

"Monsignor Steven Callahan has acknowledged to Bishop Michael Driscoll of Boise, Idaho, through the Chancellor, Sister Arlene Ellis, that he mistakenly certified that Father Robert White had never engaged in behavior inconsistent with celibate chastity. He explained that he did so because he forgot about Father White's activity on the Internet.

"What Monsignor Callahan remembered is that Father White completed a professional evaluation which concluded that he was without problems that would put others at risk and by that fact prevent him from ministry.

"As a result, Monsignor Callahan knows that the diocese of San Diego has no canonical basis to take any action against Father White. Father White continues to have the faculties of the diocese of San Diego."

Ironically, all of Father White's unchaste adventures took place while Callahan served as chancellor for the diocese. Monsignor Callahan's selective omission of Father White's past resulted in yet another apology from Bishop Driscoll to his diocese. In a letter read at all Masses on July 2, Driscoll writes, "We would not intentionally allow a person of such questionable reputation to solicit funds here."

Hoyne hopes the incident will keep priests like Father White away from Boise. "He walked in to the cathedral like he owned it. He never prepared us in advance for what he was going to do. In his homily he went on and on about Food for the Poor, then told us (the ushers) to pass out envelopes and pens without any preparation for it in advance. The entire homily was about how they had to have this money and how an old lady had to dig for pizzas in the garbage. He was much too aggressive. He seemed to suggest that if we didn't give and give a lot that we were bad people."

Angel Aloma, Food for the Poor's executive director, insists that they never knew about Father White until notified by the diocese of Boise. "We have just now become aware of certain allegations and issues and we are awaiting a new letter of good standing from his diocese. That will make the issue clearer for us. In fact, I just now got the phone number of the vicar general to request that letter. I don't want to get involved in any of this, as these are Church issues between one diocese and another."

When asked what kind of requirements Food for the Poor had for its priests, Aloma insisted that all must have a good record. "They must have a letter of good standing from their diocese. It is often signed by the bishop, but it can also come from the vicar general or the chancellor. It basically states that the priest is in good standing with that diocese, meaning that his priestly faculties have not been taken away or removed." When asked if Food for the Poor would accept a priest with a questionable history who still maintained his priestly faculties, Aloma was less precise. "Basically, we have to trust that the diocese has done their work. In other words, the diocese would not give him a letter of good standing if there had been instances of sexual behavior that were not becoming for a priest. We cannot personally investigate each one. We have 70 to 75 priests and ministers working for us. We have to take the word of their bishops that they are in good standing."

Another priest contacted for this story said that such letters are almost never handled by bishops, but deferred to the vicar general or chancellor. Rodrigo Valdivia, told the Idaho Statesman that White was never charged with a crime and that after counseling the diocese concluded he could continue his ministry.

In the same story, Father Carmona expressed his frustration with the faulty information given on Father White: "Had we known he had problems with money and misconduct with his celibacy, we would have told Food for the Poor to send somebody else. It's difficult for me because we trusted the diocese in San Diego when they told us he's suitable. But then we called them after a parishioner complains and they say, 'Yeah, we have some problems.'"

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