Abuse scandal hits area churches

The sexual abuse scandal that has tainted Catholic churches in the Boston area for months is now spreading through Southwest Florida.

In the past month alone, accusations against three priests and a choir director have dragged the Diocese of Venice into the embarrassment of sexual abuse scandals popping up around the country. This week:

* The Rev. Carl Bartholomew, a former priest at St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Sarasota, has been accused of molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1994. At the time, Bartholomew was a chiropractor in Bradenton, not a priest.

* The Rev. Absalom Coutinho, who has served the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Palmetto since 1999, was suspended from the ministry last week because of two separate allegations of wrongdoing when he worked as a priest in New Jersey more than 20 years ago. Officials have not confirmed the nature of the allegations against Coutinho.

* The Diocese of Venice placed Anthony Battaglia on administrative leave without pay Thursday, while it investigates a claim of inappropriate sexual behavior in New Jersey more than 20 years ago. Battaglia is the choir director at the Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord in Fort Myers.

Last week, John Nevins, bishop of the Venice Diocese, notified parishioners at Epiphany Cathedral of accusations made against the Rev. Robert Schaeufele of the St. Petersburg Diocese. Schaeufele had been a priest in Venice more than 20 years ago. Nevins wrote a similar letter to parishioners of Holy Cross on Sunday about Coutinho, asking them to report any misconduct by the priest.

Only Bartholomew has been accused of molesting someone who lived in Southwest Florida. The allegations against Coutinho and Battaglia originated in New Jersey. The St. Petersburg Diocese has kept Schaeufele’s accuser secret.

Spokeswoman Gail McGrath said Bartholomew will not be investigated by the Diocese of Venice because he is a member of a separate Catholic order. St. Martha’s Pastor Fausto Stampiglia, also a member of Bartholomew’s order, will conduct the investigation.

Former Sarasota resident Anna Keane, the mother of the boy accusing Bartholomew of molesting him, said she doesn’t trust Stampiglia. The two men were ”best friends,” and Bartholomew donated a lot of money to the church before becoming a priest, Keane said.

”I want to stop (Bartholomew) from abusing other kids,” said Keane, who now lives in Massachusetts. ”That man is a danger to children.”

In an April 1 letter to Nevins and Stampiglia, Keane wrote that when her son visited Bartholomew’s chiropractic office in 1994, Bartholomew fondled him and told him he had the body of a god.

Stampiglia questioned Keane’s claim because Keane waited eight years to report the alleged abuse.

”Let me put it this way,” Stampiglia said. ”If someone makes a claim, and they never went to the police, I’d be very suspicious to see them come years later to make those claims.”

Stampiglia wouldn’t acknowledge an investigation of Bartholomew until he was told a reporter had a copy of an April 17 letter Stampiglia sent to Keane, which said an investigation had started.

Stampiglia refused to discuss the investigation, and called it a ”very confidential matter.” When asked when the case would be closed, he said, ”I don’t know. The sooner, the better.”

A woman who answered the phone at St. Martha’s said Bartholomew had left about a year ago. ”We don’t know where he is or why he left,” she said.

Stampiglia said Bartholomew was assigned to a church in London about a year ago because a priest there had died. He would not say if Bartholomew had been suspended during the investigation, or if his supervisors in London had been notified of the accusations.

Besides being a chiropractor, Bartholomew also owned an art gallery in Sarasota before being ordained by Nevins into the priesthood in November 2000.

Details about the accusations against Coutinho were not clear Tuesday. Father Dan Kelly, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Wayne, N.J., said Coutinho hadn’t worked there for at least five years. Reporters could not reach officials at Holy Cross late Tuesday.

New Jersey’s Paterson Diocese would not describe Coutinho’s alleged misconduct or tell reporters where he was working when it reportedly occurred, the New Jersey Star-Ledger has reported.