Most of the victims were native Alaskan children. Ultimately, more than 300 allegations involving 45 clergy and volunteers in the Archdiocese of Fairbanks were deemed credible by the church. In 2004, Peterson was working in Washington state when a decades-long sexual abuse scandal surfaced in Alaska. “If we could understand the scripture, then we could explain it to our communities.” “What made Father Chuck special is he made the teachings so easy to understand,” said Joe Asuluk, 72, who is Yup’ik and has been a deacon since 1989. Shortly after arriving in Bethel in 1963, Peterson created a deacon training program for Yup’ik people so that villagers could, after years of instruction, perform communion services, baptisms, weddings and funerals. He had dreamed of preaching in Alaska since he was a child in Montana, said Susan Murphy, a friend and longtime parish administrator of Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel. Then came Chuck Peterson, who ministered to Indigenous villages along the coast of the Bering Sea and the banks of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, accessible mainly by bush plane and snowmobile. In 2019, McGowan moved to Sacred Heart as he battled cancer. Instead of exchanging greetings in hallways, they caught up by email and phone. The retired clergy ate alone in their rooms. The chapel, dining room, gym and library were closed.
Peterson, the archivist, tested positive, along with four retirees.Ī full lockdown ensued. Last November, as the pandemic worsened in California, the coronavirus found its way there. In the early 2000s, that same brother and an elderly priest were convicted of molesting mentally disabled men who lived and worked at Sacred Heart.īut for the most part, Sacred Heart has been a tranquil retreat. In the late 1990s, a priest in a wheelchair who was struggling with mental illness accused a brother of groping him. None of the eight who died has been accused of abuse.Ībuse of vulnerable people has occurred at Sacred Heart itself. Seven priests on “safety plans,” designed to keep them from sexually abusing anyone else, reside at Sacred Heart. The eight men who died of COVID-19 joined the priesthood in its heyday, before its ranks dropped precipitously and widespread sexual abuse of children tarnished the Catholic Church. They gathered excitedly around the television when Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team, a perennial powerhouse, competed in the NCAA tournament.
In addition to prayer, Mass and reflection, the men took part in exercise classes, bingo, bridge, movies, museum excursions, picnics and lectures by fellow retirees.
Once a training ground for new priests, Sacred Heart is the only retirement home for Jesuits in the Western states. The 175-acre Sacred Heart campus overlooks rolling hills and is bordered by a winery built by the Jesuits in 1888. “The sacrifice, the belief in God and their mission helped these men through this difficult time,” Santarosa said, “but the loss of these great men is difficult to measure.” Eventually, Mass was livestreamed so they could worship from their rooms. They stopped congregating in the chapel and hallways.
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