The congregation was founded in 1947 by Father Gerald Fitzgerald in Jemez Springs, New Mexico; they are named for the Paraclete - a representation of the Holy Spirit interpreted as an advocate or helper.
After a series of lawsuits related to sexually abusive priests that had been treated at its facilities, the order has consolidated their holistic programs to Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri, an unincorporated area outside St.
[2][dubious – discuss] When Fitzgerald put out a request for a sponsor who would provide a location for him to situate his new religious congregation, Edwin V. Byrne, Archbishop of Santa Fe responded.
Fitzgerald accepted and moved quickly, buying 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) in Jemez Springs, New Mexico and founding The Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete in 1947.
In general, it appears that bishops chose to ignore Fitzgerald's recommendations, preferring to rely on the advice of medical and psychological experts who asserted that treatment was feasible.
Over the next two decades, Fitzgerald wrote regularly to bishops in the United States and to Vatican officials, including the pope, of his opinion that many sexual abusers in the priesthood could not be cured and should be laicized immediately.
[5]In 1957 Fitzgerald wrote to Matthew Francis Brady, the Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire: We are amazed to find how often a man who would be behind bars if he were not a priest is entrusted with the cura animarum.
"[7] In August of the following year, he met with newly elected Pope Paul VI to inform him about his work and problems he perceived in the priesthood.
His follow-up letter contained this assessment: Personally I am not sanguine of the return of priests to active duty who have been addicted to abnormal practices, especially sins with the young.
However, the needs of the church must be taken into consideration and an activation of priests who have seemingly recovered in this field may be considered but is only recommended where careful guidance and supervision is possible.
As a result, the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs became the first facility in the world specifically treating sexual disorders of clergy.
"[9] As Fitzgerald lost control, medical and psychological professionals began working at the center although he continued to resist these changes until his death in 1969.
[11][12] On 4 October 1996, Mulkearns wrote to church lawyers Dunhill Madden Butler and informed them he had destroyed a letter from psychiatrist Eric Seal regarding Ridsdale's sexual offending of children.
[13] In April 2009, Blase Joseph Cupich then of Rapid City, South Dakota, Chairman of the United States Bishops Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, explained why Father Fitzgerald's advice "went largely unheeded for 50 years": First, "cases of sexually abusive priests were considered to be rare."
Second, Father Fitzgerald's, "views, by and large, were considered bizarre with regard to not treating people medically, but only spiritually, and also segregating a whole population with sexual problems on a deserted island."
They have since consolidated their holistic programs to Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri and to Our Lady of Victory Trust in Gloucestershire, England.
[20] The Servants of the Paraclete also sponsor a long-term residential facility for priests and religious brothers at Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri where the primary emphasis is on community living.