From the Dear Ray Letter:
“The following Monday Mrs. Bray told me she had thought much about it and decided that it was not a valid report, because it was really ‘hearsay.’ I asked about the possibly of having hearsay investigated and she was not willing to make any report”
“Why I didn't just go to the Geneva police is a puzzle to me. I was a scared Catholic who didn't want to rock the boat.”
“September 20, 2002: I called Father Joe and asked if Mrs. Bray had ever told him about the Father Mark situation and he said he had never heard anything. I told him the story.
“He was angry that I was insisting the thing should be reported. He informed me that I was at risk of creating media problems and that others would attack our church. We were in a building campaign and this would hurt everything.
“I would not relent. Father did not understand that Fr. Mark should be stopped because I was afraid that he would re-offend. I wanted him reported and investigated.
“I had bothered Fr.Joe and he told me that he would report it to the Diocese.”
*****
Pedophile priest Mark Campobello’s career, so far, reflects the international crisis in the way the church handles sexual criminals in their midst while ignoring the victims. Ordained in 1991 Campobello transferred from parish to parish at least seven times before they finally put him in prison and took away his collar in 2004.
Here is a timeline we put together at City of Angels Blog of Mark Campobello’s career:
1991 ordained and went to Holy Family Parish in Rockford as Associate pastor until 1994
1994 sent to Geneva as Associate pastor at St. Peter.
1995 sent to Rockford as associate pastor Cathedral of St. Peter
1996 sent to Holy Angels in Aurora
1997 sent to Aurora Catholic high school as assistant principal and spiritual director
Also helped out at Aurora Catholic High school and at St. Peter’s in Geneva
2000 sent to St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal lake
2001 sent to St. James in Belvidere
December 2002 arrested
According to Jeff Anderson, Campobello spent an undetermined amount of time at St. Luke Institute in Baltimore, one of many recovery centers in the US where the church used to send its deviant priests to be cured. (Now that we all know there is no cure for pedophilia, the church sends its deviant priests to Canada and Mexico.)
“He was also in Mooseheart in Aurora,” Kate Bochte said.
Mooseheart is a group home for foster children and adolescents.
From the Dear Ray letter:
“June 2000, a friend of mine told me Fr. Mark was relieved of his position during the school year because of many things. The students had been complaining that he was seen ‘chasing’ and flirting with a female 15-year-old student. Her own daughter claimed she’d seen them ‘holding hands’ several times. It must have been valid as all parents received letters about his departure. She had heard he left Holy Angels as a resident and was living at Mooseheart, where he was caught with the girl and then was sent away by the Diocese”
*****
Kate Bochte remembers: “Campobello was here before we moved to Geneva in 2000. He left, then he came back,” Kate Bochte said. “I remember him being pulled out of the high school in mid I think 2000. Then he was arrested in 2002.”
Again, the way the church reacted made the situation worse.
“The following Monday Mrs. Bray told me she had thought much about it and decided that it was not a valid report, because it was really ‘hearsay.’ I asked about the possibly of having hearsay investigated and she was not willing to make any report”
“Why I didn't just go to the Geneva police is a puzzle to me. I was a scared Catholic who didn't want to rock the boat.”
“September 20, 2002: I called Father Joe and asked if Mrs. Bray had ever told him about the Father Mark situation and he said he had never heard anything. I told him the story.
“He was angry that I was insisting the thing should be reported. He informed me that I was at risk of creating media problems and that others would attack our church. We were in a building campaign and this would hurt everything.
“I would not relent. Father did not understand that Fr. Mark should be stopped because I was afraid that he would re-offend. I wanted him reported and investigated.
“I had bothered Fr.Joe and he told me that he would report it to the Diocese.”
*****
Pedophile priest Mark Campobello’s career, so far, reflects the international crisis in the way the church handles sexual criminals in their midst while ignoring the victims. Ordained in 1991 Campobello transferred from parish to parish at least seven times before they finally put him in prison and took away his collar in 2004.
Here is a timeline we put together at City of Angels Blog of Mark Campobello’s career:
1991 ordained and went to Holy Family Parish in Rockford as Associate pastor until 1994
1994 sent to Geneva as Associate pastor at St. Peter.
1995 sent to Rockford as associate pastor Cathedral of St. Peter
1996 sent to Holy Angels in Aurora
1997 sent to Aurora Catholic high school as assistant principal and spiritual director
Also helped out at Aurora Catholic High school and at St. Peter’s in Geneva
2000 sent to St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal lake
2001 sent to St. James in Belvidere
December 2002 arrested
According to Jeff Anderson, Campobello spent an undetermined amount of time at St. Luke Institute in Baltimore, one of many recovery centers in the US where the church used to send its deviant priests to be cured. (Now that we all know there is no cure for pedophilia, the church sends its deviant priests to Canada and Mexico.)
“He was also in Mooseheart in Aurora,” Kate Bochte said.
Mooseheart is a group home for foster children and adolescents.
From the Dear Ray letter:
“June 2000, a friend of mine told me Fr. Mark was relieved of his position during the school year because of many things. The students had been complaining that he was seen ‘chasing’ and flirting with a female 15-year-old student. Her own daughter claimed she’d seen them ‘holding hands’ several times. It must have been valid as all parents received letters about his departure. She had heard he left Holy Angels as a resident and was living at Mooseheart, where he was caught with the girl and then was sent away by the Diocese”
*****
Kate Bochte remembers: “Campobello was here before we moved to Geneva in 2000. He left, then he came back,” Kate Bochte said. “I remember him being pulled out of the high school in mid I think 2000. Then he was arrested in 2002.”
Again, the way the church reacted made the situation worse.
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