Bruce Ritter
Encyclopedia
Rev. Bruce Ritter was a Roman Catholic priest
and one-time Franciscan
friar
who founded the charity Covenant House
in 1972 for homeless teenagers, from which he was forced to resign in 1990 after accusations that he had engaged in financial improprieties and had engaged in sexual relations with several youth in the care of the charity.
Born John Ritter in Trenton, New Jersey
, he grew up in nearby Hamilton Township
. His father died in 1931, and his mother struggled financially during the 1930s, raising five children on a widow's pension
and a series of odd jobs. Ritter graduated from Hamilton High School in 1945, worked briefly in a local industry, and joined the United States Navy near the end of World War II
. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals in 1947, taking the name Bruce. He transferred for a time to explore monastic life as a Trappist
, but returned and eventually was ordained as a Franciscan in 1956 . He completed his doctoral thesis on " The Primacy and the Council of Florence" at the Conventual seminary
in Rome in 1959, but never revised or published it in an academic journal. After a series of short-term teaching assignments at a variety of Franciscan institutions, Ritter arrived at Manhattan College
in the Bronx to teach theology in 1963.
In 1968, Ritter decided to leave the College and to begin a new ministry on the Lower East Side
of New York City. He recruited a fellow Franciscan friar
, Father James Fitzgibbon, to move to this troubled neighborhood and initiate what he described as a "ministry of availability" to the poor. The Archdiocese of New York assigned Ritter and Fitzgibbon to the local parish
, St. Brigid's Church
, which had been designated as an experimental parish, in that it was structured around a team ministry. The Franciscans lived in a tenement building on East 7th Street, in what was a high-crime neighborhood, riddled by drug use. The friars were not immune to this situation, and their apartment was frequently broken into and robbed. One time, even Father Bruce's religious habit
was taken by the thieves. Gradually they accumulated a following of young volunteers who moved to the East Village, Manhattan
and surrounding apartments in an effort to live in community and effect social and political change. Fitzgibbon soon left the ministry, but several other individuals, including Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy, and Paul Frazier, proved instrumental in defining the early years.
By the early 1970s, Ritter decided to focus his efforts on sheltering homeless youths, as the issue of "runaways" was receiving considerable national media attention and the Greenwich Village
area appeared to be a magnet that attracted many homeless youths. He formally incorporated his ministry as Covenant House
in 1972 and received his first grant from the New York City Addiction Services Agency to support his work. Ritter soon began acquiring other properties and opened a series of boys' and girls' group homes, primarily in the Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods. In 1976, he announced plans to open a multi-service center for youths near the Port Authority Bus Terminal
in the Times Square
area. He began to obtain considerable publicity by claiming that he was rescuing youths who had arrived in New York City
and had been lured into the child pornography and prostitution trade.
By the late 1980s, Covenant House had moved away from the small group home approach and opened large shelters with training programs in seven United States cities, as well as in Toronto
and Latin America
. Its budget approached US$90,000,000, and it spent three times what the federal government did on runaways. He called the teenagers in the Covenant House “my kids”, “nice kids”, and “gorgeous kids”. Ritter wrote two books, Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street (New York: Doubleday, 1987) and Sometimes God Has a Kid's Face, which detailed his experience in starting up Covenant House and provided his perspective on homeless teenagers.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan
praised Covenant House in his State of the Union
address for their efforts in aiding homeless and runaway youth. In 1985 Ritter served on US Attorney General Edwin Meese
's Commission on Pornography.
In December 1989, Ritter was accused by Kevin Kite
, a former male prostitute and pornographic actor
, of having sexual relations after meeting him in New Orleans and flying him to New York to live at Ritter's expense. Kite claimed that he had an eight-month-long sexual relationship with Ritter. He also alleged that Ritter diverted up to $25,000 in Covenant House money to finance the affair.
Ritter denied Kite's story, although he said he helped get Kite a scholarship at Manhattan College. In December 1989 the New York Times reported the father of Kevin Kite
said his son was "a chronic liar and thief with a personality disorder and a history of hurting those who try to help him." But Covenant House officials said they paid Kite's board at Manhattan College, gave him pocket money and bought him a computer. They also said a Covenant House contact in upstate New York provided Kite with papers that allowed him to take the identity of Tim Warner, a young boy who died of leukemia in 1980. Then, on Jan. 24, 1990, another accusation surfaced in the Village Voice. John Melican, 34, of Seattle, told the weekly that from the time he was 17, he had an intermittent 13-year sexual relationship with Ritter. Melican repeated his claims to the New York Times, which published them in 1990. The Times also reported that a third man, Darryl Bassile, 31, had approached the paper in mid-January to say he too had sexual relations with Ritter. He had complained earlier to the Franciscan friary in Union City, N.J., after he heard of Kite's charges, and it started an investigation. A fourth accusation came from Paul Johnson, 33, an admitted felon who claimed that he was involved with Ritter for six years. Ritter denied that he had a sexual relationship with any of these men. These allegations were not brought to court, and no charges were filed by the district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau
or state attorney general Robert Abrams
.
A report prepared for Covenant House by Kroll and Associates and the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
cited 15 cases of reported sexual contacts between Ritter and people sheltered at Covenant House or working there as volunteer counselors in what was called the Faith Community. The report did not specifically say all were men, but those who have come forward publicly with allegations about sexual activities have all been men.
"The cumulative evidence discovered by Kroll in the course of its investigation that Father Ritter engaged in sexual activities with certain residents and made sexual advances toward certain members of the Faith Community is extensive," said the report, whose preparation was supervised by Robert J. McGuire, a former New York City Police Commissioner and now senior managing director of Kroll.
Additional allegations surfaced concerning financial improprieties and administrative irregularities at the agency. Charles Sennott, a reporter for the New York Post
broke the story and it became a tabloid sensation into the early months of 1990. It also served as one of the earliest and most highly publicized cases in the clergy sexual abuse scandal that subsequently emerged within the American Catholic church. Despite mounting a vigorous public relations defense and denying any wrongdoing, Ritter was forced to resign from the organization in February 1990.
Ritter left the Franciscan order, but retained his priestly faculties
by being incardinated into a diocese
in India
. Eventually he retired to the small town of Decatur, New York
, where he died of cancer
at the age of 72. He celebrated Mass
privately in his home and attended retreats from 1990 until the end of his life.
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
and one-time Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
who founded the charity Covenant House
Covenant House
Covenant House is the largest privately funded agency in the Americas providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless, and runaway youth. In addition to basic needs, Covenant House provides a continuum of care to homeless youth aged 16–21 designed to...
in 1972 for homeless teenagers, from which he was forced to resign in 1990 after accusations that he had engaged in financial improprieties and had engaged in sexual relations with several youth in the care of the charity.
Born John Ritter in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, he grew up in nearby Hamilton Township
Hamilton Township
-Indiana:* Hamilton Township, Delaware County, Indiana* Hamilton Township, Jackson County, Indiana* Hamilton Township, Sullivan County, Indiana-Iowa:* Hamilton Township, Decatur County, Iowa* Hamilton Township, Franklin County, Iowa...
. His father died in 1931, and his mother struggled financially during the 1930s, raising five children on a widow's pension
Widow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has satisfied the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and length of marriage.-United States:In the United...
and a series of odd jobs. Ritter graduated from Hamilton High School in 1945, worked briefly in a local industry, and joined the United States Navy near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals in 1947, taking the name Bruce. He transferred for a time to explore monastic life as a Trappist
TRAPPIST
TRAPPIST is Belgian robotic telescope in Chile which came online in 2010, and is an acronym for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, so named in homage to Trappist beer produced in the Belgian region. Situated high in the Chilean mountains at La Silla Observatory, it is actually...
, but returned and eventually was ordained as a Franciscan in 1956 . He completed his doctoral thesis on " The Primacy and the Council of Florence" at the Conventual seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Rome in 1959, but never revised or published it in an academic journal. After a series of short-term teaching assignments at a variety of Franciscan institutions, Ritter arrived at Manhattan College
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
in the Bronx to teach theology in 1963.
In 1968, Ritter decided to leave the College and to begin a new ministry on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City. He recruited a fellow Franciscan friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
, Father James Fitzgibbon, to move to this troubled neighborhood and initiate what he described as a "ministry of availability" to the poor. The Archdiocese of New York assigned Ritter and Fitzgibbon to the local parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, St. Brigid's Church
Saint Brigid's Roman Catholic Church, New York
St. Brigid's Roman Catholic Church, or St. Brigid's, or Famine Church, is a church located on 123 Avenue B and East Seventh Street, on the eastern edge of Tompkins Square Park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village of Manhattan. Associated with the church is the parish school...
, which had been designated as an experimental parish, in that it was structured around a team ministry. The Franciscans lived in a tenement building on East 7th Street, in what was a high-crime neighborhood, riddled by drug use. The friars were not immune to this situation, and their apartment was frequently broken into and robbed. One time, even Father Bruce's religious habit
Religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognisable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anachoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform...
was taken by the thieves. Gradually they accumulated a following of young volunteers who moved to the East Village, Manhattan
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
and surrounding apartments in an effort to live in community and effect social and political change. Fitzgibbon soon left the ministry, but several other individuals, including Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy, and Paul Frazier, proved instrumental in defining the early years.
By the early 1970s, Ritter decided to focus his efforts on sheltering homeless youths, as the issue of "runaways" was receiving considerable national media attention and the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
area appeared to be a magnet that attracted many homeless youths. He formally incorporated his ministry as Covenant House
Covenant House
Covenant House is the largest privately funded agency in the Americas providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless, and runaway youth. In addition to basic needs, Covenant House provides a continuum of care to homeless youth aged 16–21 designed to...
in 1972 and received his first grant from the New York City Addiction Services Agency to support his work. Ritter soon began acquiring other properties and opened a series of boys' and girls' group homes, primarily in the Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods. In 1976, he announced plans to open a multi-service center for youths near the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City...
in the Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
area. He began to obtain considerable publicity by claiming that he was rescuing youths who had arrived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and had been lured into the child pornography and prostitution trade.
By the late 1980s, Covenant House had moved away from the small group home approach and opened large shelters with training programs in seven United States cities, as well as in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Its budget approached US$90,000,000, and it spent three times what the federal government did on runaways. He called the teenagers in the Covenant House “my kids”, “nice kids”, and “gorgeous kids”. Ritter wrote two books, Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street (New York: Doubleday, 1987) and Sometimes God Has a Kid's Face, which detailed his experience in starting up Covenant House and provided his perspective on homeless teenagers.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
praised Covenant House in his State of the Union
State Of The Union
"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
address for their efforts in aiding homeless and runaway youth. In 1985 Ritter served on US Attorney General Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese
Edwin "Ed" Meese, III is an attorney, law professor, and author who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan Gubernatorial Administration , the Reagan Presidential Transition Team , and the Reagan White House , eventually rising to hold the position of the 75th Attorney General of...
's Commission on Pornography.
In December 1989, Ritter was accused by Kevin Kite
Kevin Kite
Kevin Lee Kite was the first person to come forward with accusations of sexual impropriety against Father Bruce Ritter, founder of the charity Covenant House....
, a former male prostitute and pornographic actor
Pornographic actor
A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films...
, of having sexual relations after meeting him in New Orleans and flying him to New York to live at Ritter's expense. Kite claimed that he had an eight-month-long sexual relationship with Ritter. He also alleged that Ritter diverted up to $25,000 in Covenant House money to finance the affair.
Ritter denied Kite's story, although he said he helped get Kite a scholarship at Manhattan College. In December 1989 the New York Times reported the father of Kevin Kite
Kevin Kite
Kevin Lee Kite was the first person to come forward with accusations of sexual impropriety against Father Bruce Ritter, founder of the charity Covenant House....
said his son was "a chronic liar and thief with a personality disorder and a history of hurting those who try to help him." But Covenant House officials said they paid Kite's board at Manhattan College, gave him pocket money and bought him a computer. They also said a Covenant House contact in upstate New York provided Kite with papers that allowed him to take the identity of Tim Warner, a young boy who died of leukemia in 1980. Then, on Jan. 24, 1990, another accusation surfaced in the Village Voice. John Melican, 34, of Seattle, told the weekly that from the time he was 17, he had an intermittent 13-year sexual relationship with Ritter. Melican repeated his claims to the New York Times, which published them in 1990. The Times also reported that a third man, Darryl Bassile, 31, had approached the paper in mid-January to say he too had sexual relations with Ritter. He had complained earlier to the Franciscan friary in Union City, N.J., after he heard of Kite's charges, and it started an investigation. A fourth accusation came from Paul Johnson, 33, an admitted felon who claimed that he was involved with Ritter for six years. Ritter denied that he had a sexual relationship with any of these men. These allegations were not brought to court, and no charges were filed by the district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert Morris Morgenthau is an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County, the borough of Manhattan.-Early life:...
or state attorney general Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams is an American lawyer and politician.-Life and career:He graduated from Columbia College and the New York University School of Law. He is considered a member of the reform wing of the Democratic Party.Abrams was a member of the New York State Assembly representing the Bronx from 1966...
.
A report prepared for Covenant House by Kroll and Associates and the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is a prominent American law firm based in New York City, with an additional office in London. The second oldest firm in the country, Cravath was founded in 1819 and consistently ranks first among the world's most prestigious law firms according to a survey of partners,...
cited 15 cases of reported sexual contacts between Ritter and people sheltered at Covenant House or working there as volunteer counselors in what was called the Faith Community. The report did not specifically say all were men, but those who have come forward publicly with allegations about sexual activities have all been men.
"The cumulative evidence discovered by Kroll in the course of its investigation that Father Ritter engaged in sexual activities with certain residents and made sexual advances toward certain members of the Faith Community is extensive," said the report, whose preparation was supervised by Robert J. McGuire, a former New York City Police Commissioner and now senior managing director of Kroll.
Additional allegations surfaced concerning financial improprieties and administrative irregularities at the agency. Charles Sennott, a reporter for the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
broke the story and it became a tabloid sensation into the early months of 1990. It also served as one of the earliest and most highly publicized cases in the clergy sexual abuse scandal that subsequently emerged within the American Catholic church. Despite mounting a vigorous public relations defense and denying any wrongdoing, Ritter was forced to resign from the organization in February 1990.
Ritter left the Franciscan order, but retained his priestly faculties
Faculty (instrument)
A faculty is a legal instrument or warrant in canon law, especially a judicial or quasi-judicial warrant from an ecclesiastical court or tribunal.In the Roman Catholic Church, it is "the authority, privilege, or permission, to perform an act or function...
by being incardinated into a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Eventually he retired to the small town of Decatur, New York
Decatur, New York
The Town of Decatur is located on the eastern border of Otsego County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. census, the town had a population of 410. It is named for naval hero Stephen Decatur.- History :...
, where he died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at the age of 72. He celebrated Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
privately in his home and attended retreats from 1990 until the end of his life.
See also
- Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
- Kevin KiteKevin KiteKevin Lee Kite was the first person to come forward with accusations of sexual impropriety against Father Bruce Ritter, founder of the charity Covenant House....
- Covenant HouseCovenant HouseCovenant House is the largest privately funded agency in the Americas providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless, and runaway youth. In addition to basic needs, Covenant House provides a continuum of care to homeless youth aged 16–21 designed to...
- Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses