Diocese accused of ignoring complaints of teacher's sexual advances

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Father claims two-year delay on teacher in Falls school

Diocese accused of ignoring complaints of teacher's sexual advances

 The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is being accused of overlookinginappropriate behavior and sexual advances by a middle school teacherwho later was convicted of possessing child pornography and endangeringthe welfare of a child.

Justmonths after the Catholic bishops enacted a tougher policy in 2002 todeal with child sexual abusers, numerous complaints were made bypupils, parents and a teacher to the school principal about ChristianM. Butler, who taught computer classes at St. Dominic Savio MiddleSchool in Niagara Falls. But the complaints fell on deaf ears, theparents and a former teacher say.

Butler did not leave theschool until 2004, shortly before he was charged with using his schoolcomputer to download child pornography, placing his hand on a girl’sthigh under her dress and making lewd comments to another girl. Policesaid they learned about Butler through an anonymous phone call, notfrom the diocese.

“My daughter said it well: ‘We were livingwith a predator in the school for two years, and no one did anything,’” said Remi Gonzalez, the father of one of the girls.

Butlerwas convicted, served a jail term and was placed on probation. ButWednesday, Butler, now 40, was sentenced to up to four years in prisonfor violating the terms of his probation.

Parents and a formerteacher at the school contend that the diocese was warned about Butleras far back as the fall of 2002, the year the middle school opened.

Afew months earlier, in June, the U.S. bishops had adopted strictguidelines for handling abuse complaints, and they pledged greateropenness in dealing with a nationwide clergy abuse scandal.

Butthe Buffalo diocese never followed through on the new policy, saidGonzalez, who said he has hired a lawyer and plans to sue the diocese.

Diocese position

Diocesan officials disputed the notion that they didn’t act immediately.

“TheDiocese of Buffalo has had a policy regarding sexual harassment andabuse in place since 1990,” spokesman Kevin A. Keenan said. “Thispolicy was updated in 2002 following the implementation of the Charterfor the Protection of Children and Young People. In the case ofChristian Butler, as soon as the diocese was notified of theallegations against him, the diocese followed this policy.”

Three girls came forward with complaints about Butler, according to parents and police reports.

Theyincluded Gonzalez’s daughter, a pupil at the middle school from 2002 to2005, who, her father said, had been subjected to inappropriatecomments and innuendo by Butler.

A second girl alleged thatButler made sexually suggestive comments about her. In January 2003,the girl’s father confronted Butler about his remarks at the school, inthe presence of Patricia Muscatello, the principal, according to policereports.

Later that year, Butler came up to girls from behind and hugged them, according to a third pupil’s account to police.

The girl, who was 12 at the time, described working at a computer next to Butler.

“AsI started to do this, I felt Mr. Butler put his left hand on my thigh.I was wearing my plaid pleated school uniform skirt. I looked at hishand, and he started to inch his hand up my skirt. I asked him to movehis hand, but he didn’t,” the girl said. “The palm of his hand wasgoing up first. His hand went from the middle of my thigh up a coupleof inches, and that is when I stood up and walked to another computer.”

After the class, the girl told the principal, who assured her“to come to her” if it happened again and “she would get rid of him,”the girl said.

The girl, who is now in high school, sufferedfrom depression and anxiety stemming from several similar encounterswith Butler and the lack of response by the school, according to familymembers and friends.

“I know she went to the principal,” saidthe girl’s grandmother and guardian, who requested anonymity to protecther granddaughter. “For whatever reason, there was no acting on thecomplaints. Everything was swept under the rug.”

Butler, whohad also coached girls soccer at Niagara Catholic High School, wasplaced on leave from the school on June 4, 2004, as the dioceseconducted an internal investigation.

Diocesan policy requires that the chancery contact the district attorney about any allegations of child abuse or sexual abuse.

ButNiagara Falls Police did not become aware allegations against Butleruntil a detective received an anonymous call June 10 — nearly a weeklater. That same day, the state’s Child Protective Services hotlinereferred a similar call to Niagara Falls police, according to policereports. Butler was arrested on June 29, 2004.

Teacher also saw

Virginia Abbott, who taught Spanish at the school, said she repeatedly reported Butler’s behavior to Muscatello.

“Oh, Christian wouldn’t hurt anybody,” Abbott recounted Muscatello saying in response. “She would just laugh it off.”

Thecomputers in Butler’s room were filled with pornographic images thatpopped onto the screens when children signed on, Abbott said.

Abbott’sclasses were held immediately after Butler’s, and girls often explainedto her their discomfort in Butler’s classroom, she said.

“Firstone, and then a whole class. It was constant. They used to call him‘Mr. Perv’ and say, ‘He’s a pervert,’ ” recalled Abbott.

Abbottresigned June 2, 2004, because she said school officials refused todeal with pornography and violence in the school. After Butler wasremoved, she sought to be reinstated but was refused.

Muscatelloresigned in July of 2004, citing personal reasons, but denying that herleaving had anything to do with Butler’s arrest.

Neither shenor the Rev. Stewart Lindsay, a priest who oversaw St. Dominic SavioSchool as canonical administrator from 2002 to 2004, responded to twophone messages left Friday by The Buffalo News.

Gonzalez hasbeen waiting for three years for an apology from Bishop Edward U. Kmiecto his daughter and the two other girls who came forward and reportedButler’s behavior.

He said he met with Auxiliary Bishop EdwardGrosz, who was leading the diocese at the time as temporaryadministrator until Kmiec’s installation, on Oct. 25, 2004. Three dayslater, Gonzalez said lawyers from the diocese contacted him.

“Theyhid behind the laws with a lawyer, instead of acting like a church.They made me hire a lawyer,” he said. “Those people should beexcommunicated.”

Gonzalez insisted he sought only a directapology from the bishop and wasn’t interested in money. His lawyers,from the Hogan Willig firm in Amherst, have been negotiating with thediocese for more than two years.

“The apology seemed to be a big hang-up,” he said.

Gonzalezhas long been active in the Catholic church, serving as a youthdirector and Eucharistic minister and participating in pro-lifeactivities.

But he said his patience with the diocese has runout. His lawyers are preparing a case, asking that the court order thediocese to pay for counseling costs, high school and college tuition,attorney’s fees and pain and suffering for the girls affected byButler’s behavior.

jtokasz@buffnews.com