CINCINNATI (WXIX) – The once second-highest-ranking official at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who resigned nearly two years ago over a priest sex scandal has been reassigned as part of their reorganization plan.
The move of Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Joseph Binzer to pastor at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Montgomery this summer is drawing some mixed and strong emotions.
A group of local Catholics and parents says they feel their voices are being dismissed again while those who work with Binzer daily call him a “blessing.”
Father Tom Mannebach, the current pastor at Good Shepherd, praised Binzer in a letter to parishioners that was posted on the church’s website earlier this week. The move takes effect July 1.
“As many of you are aware, the Beacons of Light restructuring process is bringing a good deal of change to parishes in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are being affiliated with other parishes near them and will become a family of parishes, shepherded by one pastor and one or more assisting priests.
“Under the Beacons of Light plan, the goal of each family is to form one new parish over the next five years. I have been asked by the archdiocese to pastor one such parish family. It is comprised of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Anderson Township, Guardian Angels in Mount Washington, St. John Fisher in Newtown, as well as the missionary chapel of St. Jerome off Kellogg Avenue.
“I have accepted this request of the archdiocese and will begin this new assignment starting in July of this year. Thankfully, I will have two full-time priests assigned to me.
“It is important to know that Good Shepherd is one of a handful of parishes in the archdiocese that will remain a single parish family. Fr. Jack Wehman will continue to serve here at Good Shepherd as the parochial vicar (associate pastor).
“Good Shepherd will have a new pastor beginning in July. His name is a familiar one, Bishop Joseph Binzer, who currently pastors at Corpus Christi and St. John Neumann parishes in Cincinnati. As bishop emeritus, Bishop Joe will be serving in a full-time priestly capacity here at Good Shepherd.
“He is no stranger to our parish, having presented here as a Lenten speaker in previous years, as well as having celebrated Confirmation Masses with our young adults. Personally, I know Bishop Joe to be a very outgoing person who is always eager to help others.
“While it will be difficult to leave a parish in which I have felt at home over the past seven years, I take comfort knowing that the parish will be shepherded by a fine leader.
“Bishop Joe will do a wonderful job here at Good Shepherd beginning in July. In the remaining months between now and July, let’s continue to pray for one another and support each other in every way we can. May God bless our parish and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in the important work ahead.”
We asked to interview Binzer, but a spokeswoman for the archdiocese responded: “He declines this offer.”
Binzer has been overseeing Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Mt. Healthy and St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Springfield Township since last summer.
St. John The Baptist School on Dry Ridge Road in Colerain Township is affiliated with those churches.
That upset some parents of young children when the assignment came out last year. Some parents told FOX19 NOW at the time they were infuriated and might withdraw their students
We asked a spokeswoman for the archdiocese Thursday how they wound up dealing with those upset parents.
The spokeswoman, Jennifer Schack, responded: “In the spring of 2021 a town hall meeting was held for the faithful to express their concerns and ask questions about the assignment. Those concerns were shared directly with the Archbishop.
“In addition, a subsequent meeting was held with the Parish Councils of St. John Neumann and Corpus Christi Parishes. Many voices were heard and many factors were weighed in the decision to continue forward with the plan to assign Bishop Binzer to St. John Neumann Parish and Corpus Christi Parish.”
We asked Schack if they anticipate any similar backlash from Good Shepherd parishioners. She responded: “No.”
Why did the archdiocese decide to place Bishop Binzer at Good Shepherd?
She said: “Assignments were arranged through the Priests’ Personnel Office, and we are not commenting on individual priests or their assignments.”
We asked if the parish has a school, and she said no. When we asked if Binzer would work with children in any way, she responded: “All priests ministers to people of all ages.”
The archdiocese removed Binzer from overseeing priest personnel matters in Cincinnati in 2019, saying he failed to report a 2013 accusation that Father Geoff Drew behaved improperly with children to Archbishop Dennis Schnurr and the Priest’s Personnel Board.
The Archdiocese says Binzer did report the allegation to the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office and county’s Children’s Services and addressed the concern himself with Drew.
Church officials announced in the summer of 2019 Drew was being removed from St. Ignatius of Loyola in Green Township after parents complained the priest had sent text messages to a boy there. The messages were not sexual in nature, but they violated child protection rules, church officials say.
After Drew was placed on leave in July 2019, church officials disclosed he previously was accused of inappropriate behavior involving children in 2013 and 2015 at St. Maximilian of Kolbe in Liberty Township.
Parishioners at St. Ignatius were upset because they were not told about previous complaints against the priest while he was at St. Maximilian.
Prosecutors in both Butler County and Montgomery County have reviewed previous complaints and said they determined that, while Drew’s behavior may not have been appropriate, it was not a crime.
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser has told FOX19 NOW he explicitly verbally warned a chancellor with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in September 2018 to keep the priest away from children and to monitor him.
Gmoser told us he felt Drew was “sexually grooming” the boys for future sexual abuse and he was upset to learn his verbal warning to the archdiocese was clearly not heeded.
He was indicted on nine counts of rape in August 2019.
Binzer resigned from the Office of the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2020 and his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said.
He remains a priest in active ministry in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and is eligible to be a pastor, Schack said.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has said it made “serious mistakes” for years responding to concerns about Drew’s behavior.
Court records show there were several complaints about Drew’s behavior for years, information that was expected to be detailed during his trial.
There were other alleged victims, including another student at St. Jude, who was 12 or younger when Drew began grooming and then sexually assaulting between 1985 and 1987, prosecutors wrote in court records.
Drew, however, was not charged in connection with those allegations due to the statute of limitations.
Prosecutors also planned to call several witnesses to testify to “Drew’s Grooming Actions of Boys from Same Time Period” as the altar boy’s alleged sexual abuse, according to a court motion filed in the case.
“The State expects to offer the testimony of several witnesses who will testify that on multiple occasions, they saw Drew inappropriately touching young boys who were the same gender as (the altar boy) and who were around the same age as (him,)” the motion states.
Prosecutors also wrote in court records they planned to call witnesses that can testify to Drew’s “Grooming Actions of Boys in More Recent Times.”
“The State has found multiple witnesses who can testify that Drew’s grooming behavior with minor boys continued on. This evidence is offered to show knowledge of grooming (the altar boy) and the absence of mistake or accident regarding the touching of (him). Drew’s modus operandi, his grooming behavior, had not changed one bit.”
Drew served as pastor 2009-2018 at St. Maximilian Kolbe in Liberty Township, where parishioners raised concerns to the archdiocese in 2013 and 2015, according to a 2019 news release from the archdiocese.
The concerns included “uninvited bear hugs, shoulder massages, patting of the leg above the knee and inappropriate sexual comments about one’s body or appearance, directed at teenage boys,” the release states.
Drew pleaded guilty in December to nine counts of raping a 10-year-old altar boy multiple times between 1998 and 1991 and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
At the time of the rapes, Drew was a music minister at St. Jude School in Green Township. He did not become a priest until 2004 and also taught at Elder High School in West Price Hill.
The day Drew was convicted, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced they will seek the “laicization” of Drew, essentially stripping him of his priestly duties. He will no longer be permitted to hold Mass, take confessions or administer sacraments.
“Father Geoff Drew will never again have a priestly assignment in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati or any other diocese,” Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr said in a prepared statement the day Drew pleaded guilty.
We asked the archdiocese for an update Thursday on Drew’s status.
Their spokeswoman responded: “The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is now seeking the laicization of Father Geoff Drew, as stated in the December 2021 press release. Laicization cases are a lengthy process that take many months.”
We reached out to Concerned Catholics of Cincinnati for comment. They said in a statement they felt the voices of local Catholics are being dismissed again.
Here is their full statement:
“Local Catholics are expressing concerns with the recent appointment of former Bishop Binzer to the Good Shepard Catholic church in Cincinnati. When Joseph Binzer, was last appointed as pastor over the St. John Newman and Corpus Christi parish family, parents and other Catholics expressed concerns at that time. The retirement of Binzer as Bishop of the Archdioceses of Cincinnati was accepted by Pope Francis on May 7 of 2020 after it was revealed that he had failed to report concerns from parents about the grooming behavior of Father Geoffrey Drew to Archbishop Dennis Schnurr and the priest personnel board of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
“The concerns came from parents of children who were parishioners at St. Maximillian in both 2013 and 2015. The complaints included descriptions of grooming behaviors by Drew with boys. The behaviors included such things as bear hugs, massaging of shoulders, touching the thigh between the knee and hip and more.
“It is alarming to us that the then Bishop Binzer knew of such complaints and allowed him to be placed in such a place of authority, one of the largest parochial schools in the state and one of the largest parishes in our city,” said Rebecca Surendorff, a former school parent at St. Ignatius.
“We know there were more complaints than 2013 and 2015, including complaints from 8 th grade boys at St. Ritas in Dayton around 2006…yet Drew was not placed on leave for any of these complaints and was later placed in our parish, around our children.”
“At the time, Binzer was on the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.
“How can a family in any parish in our city feel it is okay to have a Pastor that didn’t report parent’s complaints to the Archbishop, especially considering we have the Dallas Charter to prevent such things and considering he sat on the committee for child protection at the USCCB?” asked Teresa Dinwiddie-Herrmann, a founding member of Concerned Catholics Cincinnati and member of St. Ignatius parish.
“The Archbishop has apologized for the mistakes made in handling the Drew case, yet appointed a decision-maker from the ordeal to make decisions for some of our area faithful families.” Dinwiddie-Herrmann continued.
“Drew was removed as Pastor at St. Ignatius after parents there came forward to say Drew had been texting their son. Soon after his removal, Drew was arrested on rape charges and has since plead guilty to nine counts of rape of a former altar boy at St. Jude in Cincinnati.
“The Concerned Catholics of Cincinnati is a group of area concerned Catholic parents, Grandparents and others that meet regularly to address the concerns of the church and protection of children from sexual abuse. They feel the county and the state should be conducting their own investigation into the handling of the Drew case to prevent this from happening again.”
We asked the archdiocese to comment on the Concerned Catholics statement and emailed her a copy of it Thursday.
We resent it to her Thursday night and will update this story when we hear back.
Meanwhile, Deacon Larry Day, the pastoral associate for adult faith and community outreach at Corpus Christi, credits Binzer as the reason the past year was one of Day’s best so far with the church.
He also serves as a deacon at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati, so he’s known Binzer and assisted him at the altar for years.
But over the past year at Corpus Christi, he says he’s gotten to know Binzer on a deeper level as they worked together on a daily basis. His respect and admiration for Binzer have only grown and Day says he will miss him tremendously when he goes.
“When you work with someone day in and day out, you see how they interact with people and you see them through their compassion,” Day said. “He’s a very genuine individual and very compassionate. If there is a model for a servant leader then Bishop Joe is that. We are already lamenting him leaving. He’s certainly been a blessing to us.”
Good Shepherd parishioners should know “they have a gem coming their way,” he said.
“He is a shepherd for his sheep and he values his calling and he lives out his calling with every breath he takes.
“He’s the first one here and the last one to leave, whether it’s coming to work here or going to mass. He constantly shepherds his people and there’s always one more thing that he would like to do for the people he serves.
“When I think of Bishop Binzer, he’s the epitome of compassion and he’s a humble servant. He’s a really good example of that. Everybody has their talents and gifts and they all pursue their calling to the best of their ability. But Bishop Joe, he’s a leader among priests when it comes to being a servant leader.”
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