Military priests accused of abuse

WASHINGTON — New accusations have surfaced in the past year against current and former Catholic priests who served as chaplains in the military, even as the church has tried to put its clergy sex abuse scandal behind it with fresh policies and investigations.

The new claims bring to more than two dozen the number of Catholic military chaplains accused of sexual abuse, according to a review of church, military and court records.

The most recent cases include four chaplains punished for sexual misconduct whose cases were discussed in a 1999 Navy memo. Lawsuits have been filed against two other former military priests in the past year, and three priests have been suspended by the church.

Among the latest to be accused is Navy Cmdr. Brian Bjorklund, whose priestly duties were restricted by the Detroit archdiocese in July because of what it termed a substantive allegation of sexual misconduct involving a minor before he joined the Navy. Bjorklund has been suspended as a chaplain at the Naval Air Station in Lemoore, Calif.

He is one of at least eight Catholic military chaplains accused of sexual misconduct before joining the military, a review found. Church and court records show that Catholic officials knew but did not tell the military about the misdeeds of at least two priests before they were commissioned as chaplains.

Victims’ advocates say those cases suggest that church leaders may have knowingly endangered military members and their families by sending problem priests to the Navy, Army or Air Force. Church officials strongly deny doing that.

Of more than 25 military priests accused of sexual misconduct in the past three decades, at least 19 have been punished by military, civilian or church authorities, an AP review found. They include priests sent to prison for raping children, priests found guilty of abuse by juries in civil lawsuits, and priests removed from their posts by the military or the church.