Catholic Church still refuses to address allegations that Cardinal Timothy Dolan covered up child sex abuse of Chris O’Leary

In recent years, the Roman church has, on paper, made great strides in addressing child sex abuse by Catholic priests. Yet, as the story of Chris O’Leary makes clear, there’s ample reason to conclude that the church continues to protect alleged high-level predators, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

The allegations

So, at the most basic level, what does Chris allege?

The answer is simple. He says:

I was sexually exploited, abused, and assaulted — raped — by a Catholic Priest named Father LeRoy Valentine at The Church of the Immacolata in St. Louis, MO, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Abuse that was witnessed, at least in part, by a man who is now one of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church and the world.

My friend [Cardinal Timothy Dolan].

Abuse that continued at my Jesuit high school, St. Louis University High school, in the locker room, which was unsupervised and crawling with predatory Jesuits who liked to watch us shower. And worse.

How did the Roman church respond?

As is often the case in situations involving abusive clergy behavior, the Roman church’s response to these allegations served to only add to Chris’ trauma.

The details go far beyond what we can cover, even in a series of posts. That said, key points:

• Chris states that Dolan, then in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, personally observed inappropriate behavior by Valentine, including bringing boys up to his room, hosting parties, and taking boys on trips to go caving and hiking.
• The church has repeatedly gaslit Chris over his allegations, including claiming that their record of his allegations differs from his recent statements. (That conveniently overlooks the fact that the church’s records may be inaccurate, whether deliberately or otherwise. The correct response would have been to investigate the matter further.)
• The church repeatedly refused to provide a pastoral response to Chris on the basis that he had chosen to sue the church over his allegations. To be clear: Even if a legal settlement is reached, it does not eliminate the ethical requirement to care for a victim of abuse. The two issues are distinct and independent.
• The Archdiocese didn’t notify Chris that Valentine resigned from his position just weeks after Chris’ complaint.
• Despite Dolan’s alleged first-hand knowledge that Valentine had boundary issues with boys, Dolan reportedly brushed off Chris’s complaints about being sexually abused, firmly stating:

o   I know Fr. Valentine well.

o   We were at the seminary together.

o   We lived and worked together at Immacolata.

o   I know Leroy Valentine didn’t do any of the things he’s being accused of.

o   I know he would never do anything to hurt a child

Okay, right there we have a problem.

Specifically, true sociopaths — and there are far too many among clergy in every faith tradition — are invariably those seen to be the least likely to do anything wrong. In fact, it’s a key aspect of their modus operandi, in that they hide in plain sight, concealed by a layer of charm, charisma, and outwardly guileless behavior. And nothing excuses judicatories from putting aside their incredulity, taking allegations of abuse seriously, and conducting an independent investigation, then acting on the results. And let us not forget that Dolan clearly knew of Valentine’s boundary issues and grooming behavior towards boys.

In other words, Dolan’s response is, itself, abusive.

Even worse, until his recent retirement, Cardinal Dolan operated at the highest levels of the Roman hierarchy, with many saying he was a key player in the election of the current pope, Leo XIV.

Other allegations against Cardinal Dolan

As if these allegations against Dolan aren’t bad enough, there’s ample evidence to bolster the conclusion that Dolan is corrupt, and thus all statements he has made in this matter are, at best, suspect. This evidence includes:

• Concealing $57 million in cash in 2007 belonging to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to shield it from the legal claims of sexual abuse victims who were about to sue the Archdiocese. Dolan subsequently lied about doing so.
• Failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse by Milwaukee priests to law enforcement.
• Ignoring some cases of child sexual abuse in Milwaukee by allowing accused priests to remain in good standing.
• Initially claiming in 2019 that no clergy credibly accused of abuse were serving in the Archdiocese of New York, he subsequently released a list of 120 credibly accused clergy then still active in the Archdiocese.
• Keeping Msgr. John Paddack, a senior New York church official, in office for months after multiple allegations of child sex abuse first became public.

Again, we believe that these allegations, all of which originated with independent sources, are sufficient to call into question Dolan’s handling of Chris’ allegations of abuse.

The church tries the whole “domestic terrorism” routine

We also want to flag another deeply disturbing aspect of the Catholic church’s handling of Chris’ situation: It tried the ever-popular Episcopal trick of suggesting that Chris is a “domestic terrorist,” resulting in church members shunning him at area parishes, including at the ironically named “Queen of Peace.”

And when Chris requested a retraction, it pulled one of the oldest and most sordid tricks on the book: claiming confidentiality and telling him it can’t just go around saying stuff about him. 

Needless to say, the church cannot validly claim confidentiality to sidestep the ethical and moral obligation to retract defamatory comments about a victim of clergy sexual abuse. Any effort to the contrary is disingenuous in the extreme, and the church should have no issue with retracting its inappropriate remarks.

Moreover, this sort of DARVO (deny and reverse victim and offender) based approach to addressing victim concerns is both abusive and indicative of an organizationally abusive culture. It’s also, sadly, endemic in abusive churches. And it’s just one part of a seeming smear campaign by the church, which seeks to discredit Chris at every turn.

Our take

One of the things we find particularly disturbing about Chris’ situation is that his local media outlets in the St. Louis area consistently avoid covering his story. Meanwhile, while the Roman church is quick to invoke its perceived “rights,” including ire that Chris recorded a conversation he had with a senior church official about his abuse (even though Missouri is a one-party consent jurisdiction for purposes of recording conversations), it evinces a remarkable lack of concern for Chris’ well-being.

In other words, both the church and the media are stonewalling Chris.

Meanwhile, we identified multiple individuals who could independently verify Chris’ allegations. And there is strong evidence to suggest that Valentine was, at one point, quietly shipped off to a so-called treatment program for abusive priests in Maryland.

It’s also worth noting that Chris’ plight is well-known in church abuse circles, yet we see zero sign that the Roman church is doing anything to repair the harm it’s caused. And while the church repeatedly claimed that it couldn’t substantiate claims of abuse on the part of Valentine, it has paid out claims in four cases that we know of.

That begs the question: How many times do victims have to come forward before the church takes these claims seriously? After the first couple of lawsuits, it would seem to us that any rational actor would concede that Valentine, who died in 2020, was a chronic bad actor.

We hope that the Roman church will, even now, step forward and act with integrity. That said, we’re not sanguine about the prospects, so we plan to continue to work on Chris’ case, seeking visibility, accountability, and justice.

Finally, in our experience, churches at which abuse has occurred typically remain both risky and abusive for years, if not decades, to come. Indeed, it is not unusual to find clusters of abuse in these parishes.

Thus, we warn anyone looking for a church home (or parochial school) to approach Immacolata Catholic Church with the utmost caution.