You can’t make this stuff up. One of the supposed fixes for the Scandal was the plan by dioceses to run criminal background checks on all employees and volunteers, including the little old ladies who bring Communion to the sick. Never mind that criminal background checks only find people with, you know, criminal backgrounds, and thus do nothing to stop predators who have never been caught. It also ignores the obvious point that the Scandal was not caused by people with criminal backgrounds hiding in the clergy, but that bishops knew about the predatory behavior of some priests and chose to ignore it.
Still, if you’re going to do criminal background checks, perhaps it’s not a good idea to put a person who has a criminal background himself in charge of it.The man the Archdiocese of Cincinnati hired to do the checks was accused of stealing from archdiocesan employees and has long criminal record, including arrests for possession of crack cocaine, menacing, theft, and domestic violence. As an archdiocesan employee, he showed up at a food pantry that assists people in actual need and demanded money, even producing a fax supposedly from the archdiocese supporting his claim for assistance.
They found Alex Henties has a long criminal record, dating back to 1996, theft; ‘97 menacing. 2003? Violating a protective order, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The same month he appeared in the Telegraph, Henties filed domestic violence charges against the mother of his child, Karis Swanson. Parishioners found she also had a long criminal record for theft and drugs and forgery.
Getting the brush-off and an “inappropriate relationship”
Update: Rich Leonardi posts an email sent out by Vincent Frasher (mentioned below) responding to the news report. You read and decide.
Technorati Tags: background checks, bishops, Catholic, Cincinnati, sex abuse
Why doesn’t canon law have a RICO section? Worse still, maybe it does and we haven’t caught on.
R & B.
That giant sucking sound is the credibility of the Church.
I have become so depressed about the Church situation, I almost wish the whole edifice would collapse and we few who are left could meet in my small house for Mass.
Makes me wonder how this loser got his job. We also don’t have the most objective hiring procedures in the business……. He’s probably somebody’s brother-in-law who can’t hold a job.
MWM—yup, it’s the professional thing to do, actually, to keep your door open if you have less than a good-sized group of kids in the room. I used to teach. Never, ever let yourself be in a room alone, door shut, with somebody else’s kid.
Don’t wish too hard, MM, it’s where we could be going if society turns on us hard enough and we rally as Catholics.
MichiganCatholic: Read the whole post and the linked story, especially his relationship with the archdiocesan personnel director.