W Thomas Faucher

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W Thomas Faucher

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:30 pm

Thread about an Idaho Catholic priest, theologian, published author, Satanist, and child porn distributor.

His story smells like something more fetid than your average everyday "Catholic priest" best. Especially the "LSD" part.

From his CatholicIdaho.org bio:

Father W. Thomas Faucher was ordained a priest on June 4, 1971, in St. John Cathedral by
Bishop Sylvester W. Treinen for the Diocese of Boise. He was associate pastor at St.
Anthony’s, Pocatello (1971-72); and at Sacred Heart, Boise (1972-75). He was pastor at Sacred
Heart, Emmett (1976-79); Sacred Heart, Boise (1979-89); Our Lady of the Lake, McCall, St.
John’s, Cascade, and St. Jude’s, Council (1992-94); and St. Mary’s, Boise (2002-14). He was
also associate administrator at St. Mary’s, American Falls (1971-72); and administrator at St.
Mary’s, Boise (2014-15). In other assignments, he was an instructor at Mount Angel Seminary
(1975); a member of the Liturgical Apostolate (1976) and an instructor at Bishop Kelly High
School, Boise (1973-76). He was on the board of directors for the Federation of Diocesan
Liturgical Commissions (1973-81), including a term as chairman (1977-79). He was a member of
the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Liturgy (1977-79), a fellow at the North American Academy of
Liturgy (1977) and a member of the Societas Liturgica (1978). He was president of the diocesan
Priests’ Senate (1982); a member of the USCCB National Advisory Council (1980-1983, Associate
Fellow at the Woodstock Center at Georgetown University, Washington (1995-96); and was
chairman of the committee planning the ordination and installation of Bishop Tod D. Brown
(1988-89). He served as director of Diocesan Studies at the Diocesan Catholic Center (1989-
91); was on the board of directors of the Nazareth Retreat Center, Boise (1992-94); was on
loan to the Diocese of Baker, Ore., serving as Judicial Vicar and Associate Vicar General
(1994-2002); and on sabbatical to serve as administrator of the parish of St. Andrew in
Kirkcudbright, Scotland, in the Diocese of Galloway, Scotland (2002). He had also previously
served as an instructor at Hawkstone Hall Sabbatical Center in Shropshire, England, (1992-94).
After returning to Boise, he served as dean of the West Central region (2005-06).

Father Faucher’s request for retirement was accepted.


From HISTORY OF SAINT EDWARD THE MARTYR CATHOLIC CHURCH

In 1996 Father W. Thomas Faucher J.C.L. from the Diocese of Boise arrived “on loan” and, together with the thriving economy, ushered in a period of growth; parish membership mushroomed to 185 families over the next three years. This precipitated in the need for an addition to be made to the main church auditorium, which was completed and dedicated in 2001. During his stay at Saint Edward, Father Faucher also oversaw the addition of Saint Winefride’s Garden and Cemetery, an urn-burial place of reflection, peace and solace. After Father Faucher’s return to Boise, the parish saw a series of pastors and administrators...


He's gained considerably more fame in recent years for a different, but related, set of interests.

Via: https://www.christianpost.com/news/prie ... -porn.html

The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, a retired Idaho priest who once claimed to have urinated in communion wine at least once at his church, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison without parole for what investigators said was the most disturbing child pornography case they had ever seen.

According to the Idaho Statesman, Faucher, 73, who pleaded guilty in September to five felony crimes stemming from amassing thousands of child porn images and videos on his home computer, will also have to register as a sex offender.

He apologized in the courtroom ahead of his sentencing at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise.

“I am deeply sorry that I was and have been connected to that in any way,” Faucher said while acknowledging that he now knows child porn is not a victimless crime. “I was one really sick puppy. I screwed up big time ... I feel so much remorse and anger.”

Detective John Brumbaugh, who’s been on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for five years, testified Thursday that he received a cybertip about two images sent from wtfauch@aol.com that was linked to the St. Mary’s Catholic Church website.

Over several months, Brumbaugh said verified chats and emails showed Faucher was “actively seeking interests with gay men, satanic interests” as well as the rape and killing of minors.

The detective described the contents of the images police found on Faucher’s cellphone, computer and Dropbox account containing more than 2,500 files displaying child pornography described as violent, disturbing, torturous and included children crying.

“The volume of [images] was something I haven’t come across,” Brumbaugh said.

The disgraced priest also expressed a desire to have sex with boys, had “satanic desires,” an attraction to 6-year-old boys and expressed excitement at the “thought of killing someone” authorities said.

“The volume of [images] was something I haven’t come across,” Brumbaugh explained, noting that the case disturbed everyone who worked on it.

Brumbaugh said Faucher also had images of black slavery and discussed using racist language. Images of Faucher urinating on a cross and canon law book were also found.

Bishop Peter F. Christensen and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise said in a press statement that the shocking discovery of the evil Faucher harbored has forced them to start the process of defrocking him.


Via: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/loc ... 67664.html

Hundreds of images of child pornography and drugs including marijuana, ecstasy and LSD were found in the home of a retired Boise priest, a prosecutor said at a Monday court hearing.

Longtime Catholic Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, 72, was brought into court in a wheelchair Monday evening for his arraignment on 14 different charges.

Most of the crimes involve Idaho’s law against child pornography: He is charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, and two counts of distributing sexually exploitative material involving children. His last two charges are both for drug possession. All of the charges are felonies except for both drug counts.

...

Faucher has long criticized the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse by its priests. Earlier in 2002, while based at Sisters, Oregon, he told one gathering that the church was looking the wrong way at incidents of molested children, and that Cardinal Bernard Law “should resign” for the events eventually documented in the 2015 movie “Spotlight.”

Faucher wrote to the Statesman in 2010 that 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI should retire because he was “much too old to lead the church through this mess.”

As a canon lawyer, Faucher sometimes represented other priests, such as in 2014 regarding a priest who had been removed from a parish in Bend, Oregon, for undisclosed reasons.
Last edited by Wombaticus Rex on Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: W Thomas Faucher

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:02 pm

Faucher also wrote several published books, including a novel about abuse, which I have ordered:

Describing Color to the Blind: A Novel to Stir the Soul Paperback – December 11, 2015

A woman hears a voice guide her for almost seventy years. She survives abuse and tragedy. In the year 1988 she wants her story to be told. But the interviewer is a skeptic, convinced at first that she is just a mentally imbalanced harmless old lady. He soon discovers that she is much more than that. It is a book about abuse and survival which raises many more questions than it answers.


Lurid and instructive details from local news:
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/ ... -540211505

But the prosecution urged Judge Jason Scott to weigh Faucher's own words in the chat logs as the judge decided whether or not to lower the priest's bond.

"He talks about wanting to rape teenage boys - those are his words. He talks about being turned on by a baby's scream - those are his words," Slaven said. "He encourages the person with which he is chatting to rape and kill a boy. He talks about his own desire to rape and kill children."

In another chat conversation, Slaven said, Faucher discusses whether he should poison a neighbor child's dog, writing that no one would suspect "the old wonderful priest neighbor."

The violent files recovered from Faucher's devices were among the most horrific Idaho's Internet Crimes Against Children task force had ever encountered, Slaven said. In addition to the pictures and videos showing children being tortured and abused, she said, investigators also found files showing animals being hurt and killed and "an actual snuff film:" a recording of the real rape and murder of a woman.

...

The attorney also pointed out that Faucher is not charged with actually molesting or abusing any children. Although several people came forward after Faucher's arrest, accusing the priest of sexually molesting them in the 1970's, Manweiler dismissed those accounts as opportunists coming "out of the woodwork. "

"In my view, those are people jumping on the bandwagon that want the Catholic church to write them a check," he said. "They should not be given serious consideration by this court."

...

Manweiler also stressed the priest's lack of criminal history and deep support from his family members and many friends.

"In terms of his character and reputation, judge, prior to this case it was beyond reproach. He has ministered to many, many thousands of people over his long career," he said. "The bottom line is, he's well known and well-liked and he counts among his very, very good friends the governor, the lieutenant governor, Mayor Bieter and other well-known political figures in Idaho."
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Re: W Thomas Faucher

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:49 am

Get a bunch of pervs in frocks, of course, and it's never hard to start pegging out potential network links around guys like Faucher. His "loan" to Baker, OR is interesting. The Boise Diocese has, inevitably, had other issues with priests, notably a Mel Baltazar who got sentenced in '85.

There is a Tod David Brown who was Bishop in Boise from '89 to '98 who has himself been accused of abuse by an unusually credible witness. The "multiple perps" detail jumps out.

Via: https://www.ocregister.com/2007/09/30/b ... -his-past/

In a sworn deposition taken this month in a Mater Dei High School sex-abuse lawsuit, Brown, 70, was asked about an accusation that he had sexually abused a 12-year-old boy 42 years ago. Brown testified that the accusation was “untrue.”

Shortly afterward, Hicks came forward, saying he was the man who went to the Diocese of Fresno 10 years ago and said he was molested by Brown in 1965. He told the diocese that psychological counseling helped him realize that the abuse by Brown “was not a fantasy, but a detailed memory.”

Fresno diocese officials deemed the accusation false.

Hicks could not offer up anyone who could corroborate his story. He also did not tell anyone of the abuse at the time. He also says he has had multiple abusers, according to his Newport Beach attorney, Ryan DiMaria, who would not identify who they are.

...

The third time, Hicks says he was in a car driven by a man – not Brown – to an office off church grounds. There, he says he was abused by the man and Brown, who he says arrived later. He doesn’t recall anything else.


(Note that, chronologically, these accusations would place Brown in Monterey, California, not in Boise, Idaho.)

Via: https://www.idahostatesman.com/latest-n ... 54969.html

Faucher is a native Boisean with deep and wide roots across Idaho; the allegations against him hit the Catholic community hard. It prompted some of those who were abused by Catholic clergy to contact the Statesman, including one alleged victim of Faucher himself.

Others have offered Faucher support.

"It is fair to say that hundreds of people are supporting Father Faucher because they have been touched and helped by him, his message, his homilies, his good works," wrote Mike Ellsworth, a longtime friend. "These are people of every background, nationality, religion and profession."

After an investigation into past abuses within the Diocese of Boise, the Statesman found that during a four-decade period in Idaho at least two bishops, eight priests — including Faucher — and five other church members became aware that the Rev. James McSorley was sexually abusing children.

None of them called police.

Since Faucher was arrested in February, two men have told authorities that he molested them as children decades ago. Diocese of Boise officials said they never received any allegations of abuse by Faucher before he was arrested. No charges have been brought in those cases, and it's unlikely they will because state lawmakers' removal of the statute of limitations for most child sex crimes in 2006 wasn't retroactive.

A man who is now 41 and was a sixth-grader at Sacred Heart School in the mid-1980s told the Statesman that he didn't tell anyone about Faucher's abuse at the time because he was afraid of getting into trouble.

"I was hoping someone would piece it together without me possibly getting into trouble," he said. "I didn't tell anybody because I didn't think I should have to."

...

A Boise mother told the Statesman that her adult son was one of the two men who contacted prosecutors. The former Sacred Heart student initially declined an interview but changed his mind after reading defense attorney Mark Manweiler's comments in court that the decades-later allegations were not credible, and that the men were simply seeking money from the church.

The alleged victim told the Statesman that Faucher repeatedly sexually abused him. The Statesman does not typically name victims of sexual abuse.

Faucher worked at Sacred Heart twice, first as an associate pastor from 1972 to 1975 and later as pastor from 1979 to 1989. The alleged abuse occurred from 1987 to 1989, when the student was in sixth and seventh grades.


A couple more details from that same (longform and very good) Statesman piece:

But Faucher sounds optimistic that his legacy won't be under a cloud forever.

"When I get out, I'll have at least one or two more chapters after that," he said. "I think in the long run my legacy and reputation will be restored, simply because what I'm being accused of is not me."

...

In 2010, in response to the church sex abuse scandal, he wrote in a column that many American bishops "should have been retired" a decade earlier for "terrible errors in administrative judgment." He also called for Pope Benedict to step down.

"He is much too old to lead the church through this mess," Faucher wrote.

Two days later, then-Boise Bishop Michael Driscoll published a response in the Statesman.

"Father Faucher is free to express his own personal opinions, but they certainly do not reflect my opinion as bishop of Boise," Driscoll wrote.

Driscoll died of natural causes in October 2017, at the age of 78. In Faucher's jail newsletter, he blamed the late bishop for being in jail.

"It was Bishop Driscoll's evil actions that helped get me here in jail and my hatred of him and anger," Faucher wrote. "I cannot go down that path again with Bishop Christensen and Monsignor Joe da Silva."

Asked to elaborate on that, Faucher said, "I feel he chose to treat me unfairly, all during his time as bishop." He declined to say anything further.


"Bishop Christensen" is current Boise Bishop his most reverend excellency Peter F. Christensen. Joe da Silva has been accused of sexually harassing a (male, straight, married) churchgoer he wanted to bang. It ended awkwardly and the fallout is ongoing.

"Rev. James McSorley" is another protected perv. Notably, he was sent to Boise because they knew of his proclivities. This is an ominous sign.

Statesman again: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/loc ... 39574.html

For two decades, Mark Holden kept the secret of the man who abused him: a man he believed was next to God, a man he thought was untouchable.

Holden met the Rev. James McSorley in 1971 at Boise’s Sacred Heart parish. In public, Holden served McSorley as an altar boy. In private, Holden said, the 50-year-old priest soon became exploitive, using secluded time with the children to fondle Holden — and possibly others — on multiple occasions over the course of a year.

McSorley bought Holden’s silence with beer, cigars and money. Holden knew the priest’s behavior was wrong — he just wasn’t sure how to end it.

...

McSorley had abused at least one child before. Records show the priest harmed multiple victims across 20 years in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.

In 1964, he allegedly molested an altar boy in Springfield, Oregon. Between the 1950s and ‘80s, he served in several Washington churches, where records indicate he abused at least one more child.

...

To date, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise has avoided the level of public criticism over abuse cases that took place in cities such as Spokane and Portland. Holden’s detailed account, and the February arrest and charges against the retired Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, bring renewed accusations that Idaho church leaders failed to swiftly and properly handle credible abuse allegations for 40 years.


This narrative of other cases is wild:

As in many dioceses, Driscoll did not identify the priests. Separately, the names of a few priests accused of misconduct during those years have become public. They include:

The Rev. Mel Baltazar pleaded guilty in 1984 to lewd conduct with a 15-year-old boy he met while serving as chaplain at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, according to the Associated Press. He served more than three years of a seven-year prison term before being paroled in 1988.

The Rev. James Worsley was defrocked after the Statesman published an interview with his victim in 1993. The victim told a Boise detective of “approximately 100 episodes of genital fondling and fellatio” between 1975 and 1980, according to a 1993 police report obtained by the Statesman.

The Rev. John Cornelius, a former Idaho priest who ended his career in Washington, was accused of molesting at least a dozen teenage boys, according to the Everett Herald in 2016. The alleged sex abuse occurred in Boise and King County, Washington, in the 1970s. Cornelius resigned in 2002 and was defrocked in 2004.

The Rev. A.J. Ferretti was a Jesuit priest who died in the early 1980s. Three women in 2008 and 2009 sued the Diocese of Boise and the regional Jesuit order, based in Oregon, for abuse they claimed they suffered from Ferretti at a north Idaho parish in the 1970s. The Jesuits, facing several lawsuits, declared bankruptcy and the case was moved to federal court in Oregon. There, the Boise Diocese was dropped from the claims and the case was eventually settled.

The Statesman asked this month for an update on abuse claims. Two additional and credible allegations had been made since 2002, according to church spokesman and Deacon Gene Fadness.

One priest, the Rev. William R. Gould, was removed from the ministry and assigned to a life of “prayer and penance” by the Vatican over alleged sexual misconduct with a boy under 18 in Idaho Falls in about 1981. At the time he was removed, he was serving as a priest at St. George’s Catholic Church in Post Falls. He was never charged. Bishop Driscoll announced the claim against Gould in 2010 when he put the priest on leave.

The second was a Jesuit priest who was returned to the Jesuits’ order at some point since 2002, and never returned to active ministry, Fadness said. Fadness did not provide the priest’s name because the Boise Diocese did not oversee him.
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Re: W Thomas Faucher

Postby Grizzly » Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:10 am

Jesuits Release Names Of Accused Sexual Abusers In Montana
https://www.mtpr.org/post/jesuits-release-names-accused-sexual-abusers-montana

Just next door to is Boise, Idaho my State, Montana.

Montana diocese reaches $20-million settlement with clergy abuse victims
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-montana-diocese-20180427-story.html

Montana jury awards $35M in sex abuse lawsuit against Jehovah's Witnesses
https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-jury-awards-m-in-sex-abuse-lawsuit-against-jehovah/article_1bcabb7c-7381-574b-a2ba-e011cc0250a6.html
“The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it.”

― Joseph mengele
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Re: W Thomas Faucher

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:53 pm

Describing Color to the Blind turns out to be all I expected and more. I imagine there was some consternation in the Diocese after Faucher got outed, because it paints his already-published book in a very different light.

The fundamental plot is basically Marytrs, or Kirpal's recent career: trauma as holy path to gnosis, or as he puts it, "visionary" contact with Catholic deities.

Further, the book is structured as a narrative in two layers, one the autobiographical reflections of lead character Prissy Duke who was abused and trafficked as a child, and a barely fictionalized "reporter" character who has his atheism shaken by her story.

This reporter has already been going into depth about Church politics (odd thing for a purported atheist to be up on), meeting Idaho governors and ex-governors in Boise, local journalists keeping secrets, and the role of Basque culture in Idaho's circles of abuse. So clearly there are lot of details about Faucher himself to be gleaned here. More later.
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