Kite told counselors at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Crime Victims that his liaisons with Ritter started when the priest met him years earlier in New Orleans and brought him to New York with the promise of leading him to a new life. In the late 1960s, the Reverend Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest, stepped down from his post as a tenured professor at Manhattan College to begin a new ministry serving the city's poor. Ritter’s belief in raising funds from private enterprise rather than from government made him seem the “perfect mix of free enterprise and compassion,” Sennott recalls. Bruce Ritter (February 25, 1927 – October 7, 1999) was a Catholic priest and one-time Franciscan friar who founded the charity Covenant House in 1972 for homeless teenagers. Columnists at the Times, the Daily News and Newsday all stuck up for Ritter. Covenant House International/Facebook. While at Covenant House, Ryan co-wrote and lobbied for the New Jersey Homeless … Covenant House Scandal. The church has paid out billions of dollars in settlements — including $60 million by the New York Archdiocese in the past two years, The Post reported this month. Ritter founded Covenant House in 1972 as a small facility for homeless teens in the crime- and drug-ravaged East Village. 83,329, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved Covenant House Opening Doors For Homeless & Trafficked Youth. [Gideon Knox Group] Over the last 72 hours, America has experienced an all-out attack from Big Tech upon our citizenry. When the Ritter scandal was first broken by The Post in 1989, priest sex-abuse stories were rare in the United States and unheard of in New York. Covenant House survived under new leadership, and continues to serve homeless and runaway youth. To look at pay for executives of big nonprofits nationwide, The Chronicle examined Internal Revenue Service data for more than 500 organizations that raised $35 million or more from individuals, foundations, and corporations in 2014. These cookies do not store any personal information. Millions of kids suffer on the streets every day. Kite’s next stop was the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Since Covenant House was shaken by allegations of sexual and financial impropriety four months ago, the charity has been cutting back some programs … The organization is run by Kevin Ryan and has an annual revenue of $85,149,978. Thanks for contacting us. Welcome to journalism.’”. But Ritter ran Covenant House virtually unchecked. Cotter and executive editor Jerry Nachman came under siege by Covenant House board members, advertisers, Gov. By that year, Covenant House’s board was a who’s who of financial and media clout. “From ashes, really, she pulled Covenant House forward and saved hundreds of thousands of kids,” said Covenant House President Kevin Ryan. Bruce Ritter, the Covenant House founder who resigned amid allegations of sexual and financial misconduct, has died of cancer at the age of 72. Left-leaning political mag Mother Jones is serving as a mouthpiece for sex-trafficking propaganda from the religious nonprofit Covenant House… … Notably, when Ritter’s activities at Covenant House were exposed in 1989 by the New York Post, Charles M. Sennott, the Post reporter who wrote the story, would later state that “the secular powers more than the archdiocese or the Franciscans protected him [Ritter].” Rev. We are running a story about a defalcation” — legalese for embezzlement. The charity is still a dues-paying member of Catholic Charities and Catholic Charities of New York. But it turned out to be another form of prostitution, Kite learned: sex in exchange for money and goods. It included captain of industry Peter Grace, financiers Teddy Forstmann and William Simon, Woman’s Day magazine editor-in-chief Ellen Levine and high executives of IBM, Chase Manhattan Bank and Bear Stearns. Hurricane Florence begins battering the Carolinas, This story has been shared 127,605 times. On Dec. 6, a nervous but determined Sennott reached Ritter by phone. Covenant House receives 84.31 out of 100 for their Charity Navigator rating. Covenant House subsequently more than tripled its annual budget from $27 million in 1985 to $90 million in 1989. The ministry’s revenue declined by 46 percent between 2012 and 2014, and its assets dropped from $6.2 million to $2.8 million. Yet when Ritter was forced out in the winter of 1990, following a courageous exposé in The Post, few in the city could guess how widespread the problem was. By Annie Laurie Gaylor© Copyright 1992, Annie Laurie Gaylor. Print This Article. Covenant House Scandal. COVENANT HOUSE was also CAUGHT TAKING A 17-YEAR OLD TO AN ABORTION CLINIC. The board of directors thoroughly reformed its own operations during the 1990s and also selected Sr. Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., as the new president to replace Ritter. A free inside look at company reviews and salaries posted anonymously by employees. Covenant House is a Youth Development, Shelter, and Crisis Services charity located in New York, NY. But the strong-willed, intellectually brilliant and domineering priest eventually grew Covenant House into a charitable giant with 178 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and Central America. Covenant House was founded Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest, in 1972. 113 Covenant House reviews. Three weeks later, fearing that the DA would send the case to a grand jury, Ritter gave up and skulked off to his upstate home. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Covenant House did manage to overcome the scandal, though the process proved to be a long and painful one. One of Ritter’s victims, Darryl Bassile, wrote to him in March 1990, “You were wrong for inflicting your desires on a 14 year old . There was anger that he escaped prosecution. Father Ritter died in obscurity at his farmhouse in Otsego County on Oct. 7, 1999. TV cameras focused on Ritter, then 62, standing next to First Lady Barbara Bush at President George H. W. Bush’s 1989 State of the Union Address. Church officials and the organization’s insiders ignored years of buzz about his relationships with boys and a mysterious, secret “safe-house” program for certain youths who were Ritter’s favorites. Tim Warner was a well-liked boy who loved to bowl, play baseball and be a Cub Scout in Jamestown until he was stricken with leukemia, which took his life at As the “Stay Home, Work Safe” order is in effect for the Harris County and greater Houston area, all vendors who provide good/services to Covenant House Texas are advised to send invoices via email to our Accounts Payable email address, accounting@covenanthouse.org. Beyond shelter and basic needs, we deliver transformative solutions to help young people ages 16 to 24 build productive, independent and sustainable lives. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. So, too, will the question of accountability. Privacy Notice It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Since Ritter’s fall, predatory priests have since been found to have abused thousands of children and young men in New York, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, Australia, Chile and Ireland. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Your California Privacy Rights By the 1980s, it had grown to an $87 million agency, operating numerous large centers in New York and six other major United States cities, as well as locations in Toronto, Canada, and Latin America. Ritter’s team put Kevin Kite’s estranged father on TV to state that his son had a “history of lying.” When the investigation seemed stalled, The New York Times editorialized that Morgenthau was subjecting Ritter to a “slow bleed” that could be “ruinous” to Covenant House and its good works. While I believe wholeheartedly in this organization's mission, It is a shame that Covenant House Illinois cannot seem to abide by those same principles. Morgenthau wouldn’t charge him, but he had to quit Covenant House and never work with young people again. The Covenant House Michigan Model. . For over 40 years, Covenant House has sheltered and cared for these young people – now standing as a powerful human rights movement for homeless and trafficked youth in 31 cities across 6 … Help us paint a picture of hope for our kids. Salaries posted anonymously by Covenant House employees. Mahaney was a Takoma Park pot smoker when he found God and opened a church. A Catholic theologian friend e-mails to say how much Jerry Sandusky’s situation reminds him of the late Father Bruce Ritter, founder of Covenant House… These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Sign Up for FREE ‘The Insurgency’ Email List to Get BANNED News in Your Inbox, We have Moved. While condom distribution is a matter of public record and is sanctioned by the Archdiocese of Toronto, abortion referrals are made quietly and … 127,605, This story has been shared 105,000 times. Ritter’s war machine swung into action when it learned The Post was ready to go with the story. Ritter’s hypocrisy also infuriated him. A free inside look at Covenant House salary trends based on 107 salaries wages for 61 jobs at Covenant House. As Sennott related in his gripping 1992 book, “Broken Covenant,” it all started with an order from his boss to “pick up on six.”. Covenant House Missouri welcomes youth who are runaway, trafficked, at-risk, or experiencing homelessness with unconditional love, absolute respect and a place to call home. Kevin Kite standing in front of Covenant House. Several of these rings made headlines at one point or another over the years — from the “call boy ring” run by Washington lobbyist Craig Spence, to the Franklin child-sex and murder ring run by Republican operative Larry King, to the scandal that enveloped the … Then, several young men claimed he had sexual relationships with them and illegally used nonprofit Covenant House funds to lavish them with money and gifts. • The New York Times (October 22, 1999). By 1970, Father Fitzgibbon had moved on to devote more time to drug c… She was 84-years-old. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donate $500,000 to Covenant House in Vancouver and Toronto to support homeless and at-risk youth ... as part of plea deal in college admissions bribery scandal This story has been shared 127,605 times. Each year, we reach hundreds of kids in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando via street outreach, crisis shelters, transitional housing projects, and aftercare, making Covenant House Florida one of the largest private agencies serving runaway and homeless youth in the state of Florida. The priest denied all the allegations to Sennott and suggested he, Ritter, was being “set up” by “organized crime.”. Bruce Ritter, after reports surfaced of his sexual impropriety with the charity’s male clients. “Cotter said to me, ‘What made you think it would be easy, pal? Covenant House says that LGBTQ youth need to be “celebrated” and has received a $200k grant to “enhance services to LGBTQ.”. The Post’s front page on Dec. 12, 1989 shouted, “TIMES SQUARE PRIEST PROBED Former male prostitute cites ‘gifts.’” Based not on Kite’s word, but entirely on the facts of Morgenthau’s investigation, the story made no mention of sex with Ritter, except for one detail: Morgenthau had assigned the case to his Sex Crimes Unit. The Post stuck by its guns. . You better be damned careful.” Tough-as-nails Nachman responded, “Counselor, I don’t know what you are talking about. Days later, Kite showed Sennott paperwork to substantiate his claims, including receipts for the funds Covenant House lavished on him. It wasn’t a crime — Kite was 25, although he claimed to be 19 — but Kite had much more to tell. Print This Article. “It wasn’t easy for me,” Sennott recalled this week. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Career with Covenant House. Left-leaning political mag Mother Jones is serving as a mouthpiece for sex-trafficking propaganda from the religious nonprofit Covenant House. Covenant House Florida serves runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth under 21 including teen parents and their babies. The cause of death was respiratory failure. Covenant House explains below how they invite a pro-LGBT organization, called “True Colors”, to audit their practices to ensure they are creating “safe spaces” for the LGBTQ+ homeless. Since the scandal, more than 30 churches have left the denomination—including Covenant Life and SGC Fairfax. Her performance of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” blew the entire audience away and brought everyone to …. His story differed from today’s church cases in that “the secular powers more than the archdiocese or the Franciscans protected him,” says Charles M. Sennott, the former Post reporter who at age 26 broke the story of the district attorney’s probe in December 1989. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The pope unsatisfyingly responded, “I will not say a single word on this.”. A Catholic theologian friend e-mails to say how much Jerry Sandusky’s situation reminds him of the late Father Bruce Ritter, founder of Covenant House, the home for runaways. For 18 years, Ritter was considered a hero for how he ran the charity he founded for wayward, homeless youths. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The fall of Covenant House founder Father Bruce Ritter was an omen of the sexual-abuse cases involving hundreds of Roman Catholic priests and tens of thousands of victims all over the world. Breaking the Faith – A Close Look at Covenant House By Russ Baker Recent revelations of insider loans from an unregistered trust fund to board members and friends of Father Bruce Ritter, including a $131,000 loan to Father Ritter’s sister, Cassie Wallace, have splintered the management of Covenant House and raised doubts about the future of the $85 million charity. He learned from sources that the DA had put Kite into a “witness-aid program” for his protection. This story has been shared 105,000 times. Prodded by Cotter, who warned the reporter, “I’ll kick your ass” if he got beat on the story, Sennott pursued the scoop. Published: Sunday, February 14, 1988, 7:58 am | Author: Frank Kennedy. Morgenthau’s famed sex-case prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, gave him a tape recorder to catch Ritter discussing sex and money with him. A Toronto Catholic agency – Covenant House – set up to help street kids rehabilitate themselves hands out condoms and does abortion referrals. Published: Sunday, February 14, 1988, 7:58 am | Author: Frank Kennedy. A Toronto Catholic agency – Covenant House – set up to help street kids rehabilitate themselves hands out condoms and does abortion referrals. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donate $500,000 to Covenant House in Vancouver and Toronto to support homeless and at-risk youth ... as part of plea deal in college admissions bribery scandal Joined by colleague Father James Fitzgibbon, he moved into a dilapidated tenement building in New York City's East Village, and along with a handful of friends, former students, and neighbors began an effort to help homeless and runaway youth. In September, 1990, McGeady replaced Covenant House founder the Rev. Ritter was later embroiled in an abuse-scandal in which he was accused of molesting the young men coming in for shelter off the street. For over 40 years, Covenant House has sheltered and cared for these young people – now standing as a powerful human rights movement for homeless and … Covenant House was founded Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest, in 1972. Bruce Ritter, after reports surfaced of his sexual impropriety with the charity’s male clients. I know that someday you will stand before the one who judges all of us and at that time there will be no more denial, just the truth.”. (New York: Brad Willis) Covenant House funding problems leading to massive layoffs and other service cuts reported being result of founder Father Bruce Ritter's sex scandal; details of cutbacks outlined on screen; scenes shown of New York shelter and fund-raising efforts. Overall, Covenant House International is founded upon worthy principles that really seek to make a difference in the lives of those it serves. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. In early February 1990, four of them told their stories to The Village Voice and the Times. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. How much does the boss make? It’s a pity that the church didn’t learn from the lesson of Father Bruce Ritter — that the truth will come out eventually, even if it’s too late to erase the suffering. Ritter was later embroiled in an abuse-scandal in which he was accused of molesting the young men coming in for shelter off the street.It was first formed in Manhattan and Staten Island but now operates in 21 cities throughout the United States, Central America, and Canada. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Sennott was raised in a traditional Catholic home in Boston and didn’t want to believe the worst about a saintly idol like Ritter. Written by Tiffany Stanley | Published on February 14, 2016 C.J. Pope Francis on Sunday begged forgiveness for child sexual abuse... Post was not sent - check your email addresses! By 1979, its flagship shelter near Times Square was “emblazoned with a three-story symbol [of a dove in hand] painted in blue” flying above rooftops. We believe that no young person deserves to be homeless; that every young person in California deserves shelter, food, clothing, education … and most importantly, to be loved. Covenant House is the largest agency in Canada serving youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk. TV’s “Inside Edition” did a story titled “Anatomy of a Smear.” John Cardinal O’Connor, the powerful head of the New York Archdiocese, said, “I have held Father Ritter’s work in the highest esteem.”. Covenant House California (CHC) is a non-profit youth homeless shelter that provides sanctuary and support for homeless and trafficked youth, ages 18-24. The average compensation — including bonuses and deferred pay when it is paid out — topped $650,000. 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