The Rev. Gerald Ornowski, who served for a dozen years as pastor of St. Mark’s University Catholic Parish and Catholic Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was out of town undergoing medical treatment when the complaint was filed in May 2009 by a Western Alaska woman.
The 75-year-old priest, who served in eight Eskimo communities from Little Diomede to Bethel before taking on the university parish and chaplaincy in 1997, has denied the allegations since they were levied.
The female plaintiff, listed as Jane Doe, claimed Ornowski abused her on three separate occasions when she was a young girl in Stebbins, where Ornowski served in the early 1990s.
Ornowski and his religious order, the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge, Mass., were named as defendants.
Tuesday, Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa, representing Jane Doe, said the civil suit was voluntarily dismissed by his client.
“She agreed to dismiss it,” Roosa said. “Not everybody who pursues litigation has the strength to do the fight. Once the litigation started she could not stand the pressure of the litigation.”
The dismissed lawsuit was the only complaint filed against Ornowski. The priest is traveling and unavailable for comment.
Although the Fairbanks diocese wasn’t included in the 2009 civil suit while undergoing bankruptcy litigation, Diocesan Chancellor Robert Hannon said, the dismissed lawsuit is the first in Fairbanks where a plaintiff has decided not to proceed.
According to Hannon, the diocese undertook an extensive review of its own files and found nothing to indicate that there are matters of concern in regards to the missionary priest.
“We have no credible complaints,” Hannon said.
“No one has come forward to anybody here or to our ministers or priests about him. If anyone has a complaint against Father Ornowski or another minister we urge them to come forward.”
Earlier this year, the diocese provided more than a $10 million financial settlement to be divided among almost 300 abuse victims.
Bishop Donald Kettler is carrying out bankruptcy court directives, visiting abuse survivors and their communities throughout the sprawling northern diocese to apologize and promote healing.
In a press release, Kettler said he was heartened by the lawsuit’s dismissal and that Ornowski may come up to Fairbanks occasionally to help the diocese train deacons.
“Fr. Gerald’s ministry, first in rural Alaska and then for more than a decade at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a chaplain and pastor, has been marked by holiness and distinction. I am glad his name has been cleared.”
Contact staff writer Mary Beth Smetzer at 459-7546.
"I went to the website and found evidence of alot of old cases."
If you go to the Bishop Accountability website, home page, you will see a blue section in the left, top corner called "Perspectives." Click on "Abuse Tracker." Several of the stories printed there today involve accusations of abuse by priests from 1983-2009, along with older ones.
The Tracker prints stories of abuse in other denominations as well as Catholic.
Review the website carefully to find evidence of a cover-up. It will take some time, but is worth it, if you want to know the truth.
As I've said, I am not talking about just Alaska cases. Lawsuits and reports of abuse keep coming around the world.
Most credible reports put the figure of abusive priests closer to 10%, not 4%.
The rapist/jailed priests I know are all included in the Bishop Accountability Priest Database. They are in New England. I don't see a need to "prove" to you that I am telling the truth. Why would I make up such a story of a painful experience in my life? There are enough awful stories of abuse by clergy and others: I don't need to make one up.
Could you also tell me where I can find documents of a massive church cover-up? I know that the lawyer in the Alaska cases alleged this but never actually proved anything.
I did not vilify this particular priest in any way. I said more than once that I don't know if he's guilty or not, never have heard all the evidence. I simply stated some facts about clergy abuse and about my own experience. You are attributing opinions to me which I do not hold.
Since you are questioning my credibility: I know a lot about sexual abuse, and clergy abuse. I have worked in the field for years. I know many people who were abused by priests and by non-priests. I know priests who are abusers. I know priests who were abused by priests when they children themselves. I know priests who are actively, publicly working to expose the truth about the crimes in their church and help victims (though the numbers of those courageous priests are sadly very small). I simply shared information with those who are new to the topic, or who are making incorrect statements, since there is so much misinformation out there.
The planet I am from is called Earth, United States to be exact. Perhaps you've heard of it?
To answer your polite and respectful question,I worked with many priests, for many years, in a Catholic organization which served needy children. Much to my shock, I learned in the past ten years that five of those priests, all of whom I considered friends, were child abusers. They have all been criminally convicted of raping children.
I suggest that you do some more research on the topic of child abuse. (BTW, I never referred specifically to Alaska. This is a world-wide issue.) Many living priests around the world have been accused of sexual abuse. Perhaps you could go to the following website to gather information. There is a date base regarding accused priests, as well as stories from around the world. www.bishopaccountability.org
And yes, there was a massive cover-up by the hierarchy. Church documents show this clearly. They knew of many abusers, yet protected them and gave them access to more children.
While many cases are old, victims continue to come forward, around the world, every day. some of these cases are relatively new, into the 2000's. This is not ancient history.
Also, if you learned more about sexual abuse, you might understand why victims typically take decades to report the abuse. It makes complete sense if you understand the trauma and the psychology. Many victims never report abuse. I know many sexual abuse victims (abused by priests and others) who have never reported the abuse. The numbers of clergy abuse victims is much larger than one would know simply through the media.
So you personally know several priests who are in jail for rape. Really? All these allegations from Alaska are several decades old and mostly involve men who are dead. In fact, most of the allegations in the country are from decades-old cases. How do you personally know several of these men? And I thought the big scandal against the Church was the "cover-up" and that these men were never reported. Are you from another planet?
The accuser in this case did not "recant" her story. She dropped the lawsuit. Very different.
Virtually all sexual abusers strongly deny abusing. Most never admit it, even in the face of evidence.
Many abusing priests are charming and beloved. That's one reason they are able to get away with abusing. They are trusted. Often people utterly refuse to believe the allegations, due to that trust and feeling they "know" the abuser is not capable of the act. Many Catholics have been devastated by the betrayal of priests they loved and trusted. I personally know several priests who are now in jail for rape. I would never, ever have suspected or believed that they were capable of such crimes. But sadly, they were.
I don't know the truth in this case. I just wanted to share these thoughts with you.
What we choose to term sexual orientation is a network of components that include yes, sexual partners, and also who we love, build lives with, etc. Sexual violence isn't about love, it's about hurting and controlling other people.
My only purpose in commenting about what is known about the sexual orientation of offenders was to reply to a previous comment linking homosexuality and pedophilia, nothing more, nothing less.
While the conversation regarding identity of offenders is interesting, it's also not really pertinent...a red herring conversation that I allowed that previous poster to pull me into. Therefore, i'd agree that how abusers identify (either self identity or imposed identity) *is* immaterial.
As several others have stated, I knew Fr. Gerald and there was never any doubt in my mind that he is a true man of God, and as he has stated from the beginning he is innocent of these charges.
We've all been praying that his name would be cleared and I'm praising God that the case has been dropped. Unfortunately, the cloud will never leave, but Fr, Gerry is a man of integrity and forgiveness, and I know when he returns he will be standing tall and holding his head up high as he has nothing to be ashamed of.
We love you Fr. Gerry, welcome home.
As several others have stated, I knew Fr. Gerald and there was never any doubt in my mind that he is a true man of God, and as he has stated from the beginning he is innocent of these charges.
We've all been praying that his name would be cleared and I'm praising God that the case has been dropped. Unfortunately, the cloud will never leave, but Fr, Gerrt is a man of integrity and forgiveness, and I know when he returns he will be standing tall and holding his head up high as he has nothing to be ashamed of.
We love you Fr. Gerry, welcome home.
conservativegirl, I would have to agree that the Catholic Church has become the whipping boy for all kinds of outrage against child abuse and that a small minority of priests , like in all walks of life, are/were the problem, but the Church has to realize that it's time to take it's lumps and for the most part, I think it has realized that. Was this through self-correction or through the aggressive prompting by others ? At what ratio would this be forgivable by others ? I don't know. The time for correction couldn't happen at a more unfortunate time ,as there are plenty of those out there that would love to see the Church fall just out of some an offense to their sensibilities against Christianity in general. This runs the gamut from those directly victimized to those who really are less concerned about the victimization than some generalized vague ideology being met. The same could be said about defenses for the Church, from those who truly believe the loss of the church means a loss to humanity to those complicit in crimes against children. I wish this all wasn't treated as an "us vs them " issue, but that is what happening for the most part , and yes, I would agree a lot of it is being done in the name of social engineering and not correction and healing, which is continuation of the victimization as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, I believe the church has systemically failed us through a policy of denial, defensiveness and inaction against those offenders. I find it hard to believe that the church lacked the most basic foresight to figure out what the results would be by relocating offenders instead of excommunicating them and bringing them to justice ( it is evident that is what was done). I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. I also feel that anyone who was complicit in this failure ; at least those who have resisted this recognition, should be held accountable as they would for being complicit in any crime. If that includes even the Pope himself, then so be it. Now is not the time for the Church to retreat into some sanctuary not afforded to others. It wasn't then, it isn't now. It will backfire.
That's my two-thousand cents on it.
Conservativegirl, then speak up against the school system as well, but don't diminish that fact that there could be much credence to the church abuses in the process. I'm not saying you are wrong about this case involving Reverend Ornowski, but we have to careful about generalizations on both sides of the issue.
Julia_mccarthy, if you are suggesting that pedophilia is a phenomena independent of sexual orientation; that it's frequency is more than likely across the board ,then I agree. Here's where I have a problem with the statistics: The definitions of homosexuality/heterosexuality and bisexuality are shifted to imply some moral differential between orientations, whether intentional or not - that there are both morally superior and inferior races if it is as suggested; that orientation is biological. Richard Dawkins, in one of his lectures, produced a graph that showed atheists being of higher education as a whole compared to theists, but he didn't stop there. He implied, through evolution also implied, that atheists were intellectually superior. He shifted the definition of education to the definition of intellect. He won't come right out and claim this ( or maybe he will ), but the dangerous implication is still there.
In the case of sexual orientation , I suspect these findings through "investigation and science" is an overreaction to charges of homosexual moral inferiority.
These are exercises in political semantics, and going down their line of methodology , we can argue that one who habitually takes property of others is really not a thief. We could say that since he feels remorse, regret and acknowledgement of his acts and deeds, or in the orientation case, his denial of those perceptions , that he is really not, by definition , a thief. The problem with that is is that one is defined who one is by acts and deeds in these examples, not perceptions. If one who , through his acts and deeds steals, then by the purest of definition he is a thief. If one engages in sexuality with both sexes through acts and deeds, one is by purest definition a bisexual, all consideration of perceptions,denials,etc. aside.
These suggestions to the contrary is racism in it's most horrible form. Remember when the measurement of one's cranial capacity was equated with one's intellect? Both the measurement and the idea of the equation of capacity in of itself with intellect were not only faulty , they were faulty for racially motivated leverage. While it many be a relatively new phenomena concerning the atheist/theist issue, it certainly is not that new concerning the sexual orientation issue. It's just been reversed so to give appearance of the heterosexuals lurking around corners for children instead of the past where homosexuals were the lurkers. To compound this issue, it is argued that children have no sexual identity at all. Once we go down that line of reasoning, one could argue that no orientation in the pedophilia act exists at all. There are basic factual problems with this: 1) Sexual preference by many , if not most, pedophiles suggests identity. 2) That sexual identity is comprised of more than sexual acts and behaviors. 3) Children recognize this sexual differentiation early on. The best example is recognition of physiological differences between genders. Children may not know all the purposes for these differences, but they are aware these differences exist.
I would contend that pedophilia is even across the board concerning orientation as is intelligence is concerning theism or lack thereof, that there is no biologically-driven morally or intellectually different races out there.
www.bishopaccountability.org
Then I am to assume that there are perverted preists all over the world? even worse then sending the few bad apples here. No denying there was a lot of sexual abuse by Churches and other Officials, believe me I know people that tell horror stories about the BIA schools too, just no one wants to say anything because people say "They lie" or "They want money" truth is they Just want someone to hear their story and tell them it was not their fault, it is really sad what happend.
Very good post; the feelings of being powerless is common, considering the fact that no one does anything to stop it. Used to be that families could deal with those that hurt kids, and then the US “Law” forbid retaliation and took over enforcement or laws, then did not enforce their own laws. Now if my kid gets hurt I have to call the cops who never show up or when they do they fail to convict. If I take my own action then they come arrest me and I am in trouble. Powerlessness is prevalent in the Villages.
As to “Bashing” the Church; The Jesuits and the Catholics sent their “Trouble” priests to remote and out of the way posts to keep them out of trouble. That meant sending them to Alaska and having them work with the Native population. This resulted in widespread sexual abuse of children. It was US Law that forbid a Parent from keeping their children out of school, then US Churches that allowed the abuses, then US law that forbid the adults to act against this vile and evil thing that happened the their children. Now we are to not be angry or hurt? We are supposed to look for the good in the Church? I am Christian, I do not feel the old angers against Christ for not protecting me, but I sure as heck do not agree that the Native population should look at the good the church did. From a Native stand point it was the churches that stole our children, took them far away, ridiculed and degraded their culture, stole their language, sexually abused them, then sent them back to use. The church knew what was going on and they did nothing, they used us to hide their perverted members.
Money will not solve anything, even the destruction of the church will not heal the pain and hurt, nothing here on earth will do that, it is the love of Christ that will heal and move us forward. But should the Catholic Church or the Jesuits exist? What would Christ say about that? What would a humane person say? If I give to many needy people and pray lots, does that allow me to hide and protect my family when they are evil and corrupt? I believe that the churches of today have allowed corruption to enter their ranks and that they either need to stand and be responsible or they need to be torn down and replaced, after all a evil tyrant is not better then a lack of leadership.
In the end I grieve for the abuse of my people and pray for some justice and healing.