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A priest from Cincinnati, a Philippine village, and decades of secrecy
Tim Sullivan, Associated Press
Published 7:55 a.m. ET Sept. 9, 2019



In this Feb. 19, 2019 photo, Philippine National Police, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) agents escort Catholic priest Father Pius Hendricks to be served five additional arrest warrants at the Regional Special Operations Unit at Camp Bagong Diwa in suburban Taguig, east of Manila, Philippines. Investigators say about 20 boys and men, one as young as 7, have accused the priest of sexual abuse at his parish in Talustosan village, Naval township, Biliran province in central Philippines. (AP Photo) (Photo: AP)


TALUSTUSAN, Philippines  — The American priest's voice echoed over the phone line.

"Happy days are gone," he said in the 2018 call, recorded by a young man whose accusations would shake this little island village and reveal how allegations of sex crimes by priests are still ignored, sometimes for decades, in one of the world's most Catholic countries. "It's all over."


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Soon after, local authorities arrested Hendricks, 78, and charged him with child abuse.

Since then, investigators say, about 20 boys and men, one as young as 7, have reported that the priest sexually abused them. Investigators say the allegations go back well over a decade — though many believe the abuse goes back for generations — continuing until just months before the arrest.

Hendricks is from Cincinnati and regularly returned to the area, federal prosecutors said.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati previously told The Enquirer he was a Franciscan Brother at the St. Anthony Friary in Mount Airy in the 1960s and would therefore have been supervised by his religious order, rather than the archdiocese. He left the Franciscans around 1986 and was soon ordained as a priest by the local diocese.


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For nearly two decades, the Philippine church has vowed to confront a looming shadow of clergy abuse.

In 2002, the Philippines' national conference of bishops ended years of silence to admit that the church faced "cases of grave sexual misconduct" among the clergy. It promised change.

But in a country home to more than 80 million Catholics, such promises have long disappeared into a haze of tradition, piety and clerical influence.

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On the island of Bohol, the priest Joseph Skelton serves mass, more than 30 years after the then-seminarian was convicted of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old boy. Local news reports reveal even more working clergyman: the priest who continued to recruit young men for the priesthood after admitting  to sexually assaulting teenage boys; the priest who moved into a bishops' residence after being accused of raping a 17-year-old girl; the composer of sacred music accused of sexually abusing boys as young as six.

Prosecutions of accused priests are exceedingly rare here, and it's unclear if a priest has ever been convicted of child sexual abuse.

By comparison, the group BishopAccountability.org says that since 1990 more than 400 priests have been convicted in the U.S. on child sexual abuse charges.


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Hendricks, who was born working-class Cincinnati in 1941, became a Franciscan brother by his early 20s, taking the name Pius.  His assignments ranged from the St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico to a Cincinnati neighborhood where he helped run a youth boxing club.

His branch, the Province of St. John the Baptist, declined comment on his work, saying in a statement that it was "fully cooperating with the authorities."

Residents say Hendricks was still a Franciscan when he found his way to Talustusan. It was a quiet place with dirt roads and a time-worn chapel. He left the Franciscans around 1986 and was soon ordained as a priest by the local diocese.


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Yet the church has done little to reckon with its role in what investigators now say was years of his abuse.
The Rev. Romulo Espina, a top official in the Diocese of Naval, where Hendricks served, insisted no diocesan leaders saw any signs of sexual abuse.

But he also quickly made clear that if Hendricks did anything wrong, the church bears no responsibility.

"If it is true, was he told to do it? No," Espina said. "You cannot attach the behavior to the institution. It is the devil."

For a poor village like Talustusan, having a its own priest — particularly an American one — meant a financial boost, with donations to rebuild the chapel, and jobs as drivers and clerks. Hendricks became the center of his own small economy, doling out jobs, loans and gifts.


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Hendricks' supporters say the accusers invented the charges, angry the priest stopped financially supporting them. The priest's lawyers dismiss any talk of guilt.

Numerous priests and brothers and a retired bishop who oversaw Hendricks either declined comment or did not respond to repeated messages.

In Cincinnati, the archdiocese has acknowledged Hendricks received some financial support from its missionary office but added a note to its website declaring, "Fr. Hendricks is not, nor has ever been, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati."
___

Associated Press reporters Dan Sewell in Cincinnati and Jim Gomez in Manila, and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft contributed to this report.


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