Maui parish backs its accused priest

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

Support for the Rev. Joseph Bukoski III continues to build among Maria Lanakila parishioners as they await news on whether he will get his job back after being accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in Honolulu more than 20 years ago.

463 letters were sent for the Rev. Joseph "Father Joe" Bukoski. Advertiser library photo

In addition, the church's altar boys and girls held their annual appreciation day gathering a couple of weeks ago, dedicating the occasion in honor of Bukoski.

"We're just going to keep everything going,'' said Jan Pasamonte, the financial officer at Maria Lanakila and among those leading the charge to get Bukoski reinstated.

Meanwhile, Hawai'i Catholic church officials said yesterday they were still awaiting the results of Bukoski's psychological evaluation, administered by Therapy and Renewal Associates on June 12.

The report on results of a battery of tests, including a polygraph test, may be used to help DiLorenzo determine whether the priest will be reinstated and sent back to Lahaina.

The Very Rev. Clyde Guerreiro, provincial of the Sacred Hearts order in Hawai'i, said he had been told that most of the evaluation report had been completed. Officials with the Seattle-based company are waiting for a psychologist to finish one section before sending it on, he said.

Once the report arrives at Sacred Hearts Center in Kane'ohe, it's up to Bukoski to decide whether to pass it along to the bishop, who has the final say on Bukoski's job status in the Honolulu Diocese.

The Rev. Gary Secor, the diocese's vicar for clergy, said it's also Bukoski's decision whether to let the Diocesan Standing Committee for Sexual Misconduct look at the report.

In recommending to the bishop that Bukoski be removed for evaluation and possible treatment, the committee offered to look at the evaluation report and make a final recommendation, said Secor, the committee chairman. But that won't happen without Bukoski's permission, he said.

If Bukoski does not allow the bishop to see the report, then he will not be reinstated and allowed to work as a priest in the Honolulu Diocese, Secor said.

Guerreiro said Bukoski continued to be in good spirits at Sacred Hearts Center, staying active while leading a tree-cutting project.

"He's been getting us all in shape,'' he said.

Secor said the case is the most serious of "several'' complaints lodged against members of the Catholic clergy in Hawai'i as allegations of sexual misconduct against priests have swept the country in recent months.

The Diocesan Standing Committee for Sexual Misconduct has certainly been busier of late, Secor said, but other cases have not risen to the point where the bishop has had to take action.

While bishops across the country have been holding press conferences and giving priests their walking papers, DiLorenzo has remained relatively quiet.

Secor explained that Honolulu is a relatively small diocese, and said DiLorenzo's long-standing zero-tolerance policy has sent a signal that sexual misconduct is not acceptable here and that complaints will be looked into. "We will not hide anything,'' he said.

Since he arrived here in 1993, DiLorenzo has removed five priests from public ministry after allegations of sexual misconduct. Among them are Bukoski and Roberto De Otero, a former Kalihi priest named in a civil lawsuit filed in May by two men who claim they were sexually molested by him in the mid- to late 1980s while in an altar boy program.

In another case, a representative from the New Yorkibased Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers was scheduled to meet in Hilo yesterday with three men who claim they were victims of sexual abuse involving a former Big Island priest 40 years ago. The accused is now living in a Maryknoll home for retired priests in New York.

Secor said any remedy in that case should come from Maryknoll.