(Anderson Independent Mail) - Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone, South Carolina's top Catholic priest, said in a statement Friday that he was heartbroken and sickened to learn fellow Catholics may have protected hundreds of abusive priests in Pennsylvania.
He said he joined other bishops in apologizing for what we “have done and failed to do” and called the abuse both a grave sin and a vile crime.
According to a scathing grand jury report released Tuesday, church leaders protected more than 300 "predator priests" in six Roman Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania for decades because they were more interested in safeguarding the church and the abusers than tending to their victims.
The church's own records identified at least 1,000 child victims.
One of the priests named in the report worked in a South Carolina parish from 1990 to 1993, according to the report.
The priest, the Rev. Robert E. Spangenberg, died in 2006 and also worked in Florida, Michigan, Illinois, and Hamlet, North Carolina, in addition to a half dozen posts in Pennsylvania, according to records in the Pennsylvania report.
He was assigned to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Charleston after a Pennsylvania child's mother had reported abuse to a Pennsylvania diocese and the Vatican in 1988. Spangenberg was a member of The Congregation of the Holy Spirit Province of the United States Order, also known as the Spiritans.
The order did not find the allegations serious enough to remove him but he was transferred to a retirement home in Florida in 2002, according to the Pennsylvania report.
In 2009, another man came forward saying that Spangenberg had used church collection money to pay the then-teenaged boy for sexual acts, according to the Pennsylvania report.
A statement from the Charleston diocese confirms Spangenberg's time in South Carolina.
"To the best of our knowledge, there is no record of any allegations of misconduct made against Father Spangenberg while he was assigned to the parish," the Charleston diocese said in the statement.
Any victims of Spangenberg or any church personnel should contact law enforcement officials and can also get help from the diocese by calling victim coordinator Louisa Storen at 800-921-8122, according to the diocese.
Two other priests are identified in the Pennsylvania report as having taken children on trips in South Carolina.
There are more than 115 Catholic parishes or missions in the state under the Diocese of Charleston.
"Anger, shame, sorrow and grief — that is what I feel in the face of the sins committed by so many bishops and priests," Guglielmone said in his statement. "I find it truly sickening and heartbreaking to know that children and adults have been betrayed and harmed by clergy and Church leaders whom they trusted. I join other bishops in apologizing for what we “have done and failed to do. This is a grave sin."
Guglielmone said the next steps will be continued conversations and accountability and he asked for both forgiveness and help from members of the church.
"To all whose faith has been undermined, I share your outrage and feelings of betrayal. I humbly ask your forgiveness," Guglielmone said.
