Priest abuse: Father Robert Van Handel

Robert Van Han­del. Cred­it: Cali­for­nia De­part­ment of Justice

For years, Dami­en Eck­ert had been part of an ef­fort to pry con­fid­en­tial files from clergy mem­bers at St. An­thony’s Sem­in­ary who’d been ac­cused of mo­lest­ing chil­dren, a battle that went all the way up to the Cali­for­nia Su­preme Court.

The day the files were made pub­lic last May, Eck­ert, 44, read the words of Fath­er Robert Van Han­del, the priest he says ab­used him. Be­low are doc­u­ments from Van Han­del’s file.

— Ashley Powers

Fath­er Robert Van Han­del’s hand­writ­ten let­ter to the Vat­ic­an re­quest­ing that he be de­frocked, or freed from his re­li­gious vows.
Jan. 15, 2013  By Ashley Powers
A 1992 let­ter to Car­din­al Ro­ger M. Ma­hony from the par­ents of a boy al­legedly ab­used by Fath­er Robert Van Han­del.
Jan. 15, 2013  By Ashley Powers
A 1992 let­ter writ­ten to Fath­er Robert Van Han­del and church of­fi­cials by the par­ents of a boy he al­legedly ab­used.
Jan. 15, 2013  By Ashley Powers
The Fran­cis­cans as­sembled a board of in­quiry in the early 1990s. The pan­el con­cluded in 1993 that 11 clergy mem­bers at St. An­thony’s Sem­in­ary had mo­les­ted at least 34 boys.
Jan. 15, 2013  By Ashley Powers
A sexu­al auto­bi­o­graphy writ­ten by Fath­er Robert Van Han­del for a ther­ap­ist that de­scribes sexu­al events throughout his life, in­clud­ing his ab­use of chil­dren.
Jan. 15, 2013  By Ashley Powers
A so­cial work­er’s eval­u­ation of Fath­er Robert Van Han­del for a pro­ba­tion of­ficer.
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