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Church is easily misled, despite the evidence

What good is it to check the background of a potential employee if you hire the individual before getting the results of the checks?

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Dunedin apparently thought it was important to do background checks on people who applied for jobs at the church. The process was in place to perform the checks.

But then the church turned the process into a useless exercise. In 2003, the church simply didn't wait for the results when filling the job of facilities manager. Now it is paying a heavy price.

Our Lady of Lourdes went ahead and offered the job of facilities manager to William Forte. That was the church's first mistake. Then it compounded the error when, after the background check revealed an arrest record, church officials trusted Forte's explanation that the charges amounted to nothing. We'll hazard a guess that a big percentage of people with arrest records would deny their guilt, especially to their employer. Forte did do something wrong, and what he did should have kept him from getting the job at Our Lady of Lourdes.

In 1992, Forte was charged with six counts of showing obscene materials to minors, six counts of soliciting for prostitution and seven counts of giving liquor to minors. The charges followed allegations by six teenagers and an investigation by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The teens told authorities that over a two-year period, they visited Forte in his home, where he gave them drinks made from vodka and orange juice, showed them pornographic movies and paid them for sex acts.

Forte eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Eleven years later, Forte was hired by Our Lady of Lourdes to manage the church's facilities and supervise teenagers who worked at the church for court-ordered community service. When the results of the background check arrived, church officials asked Forte about the charges in Polk County.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of St. Petersburg told the Times that Forte "was able to assuage their concerns. . . . They felt satisfied that the case was blown out of proportion."

If the church had interviewed the Polk County deputies who investigated the case, or if church officials had closely examined the investigative reports or court documents, they might have gotten a different impression.

Now the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has arrested Forte and charged him with lewd and lascivious conduct after one of the teens he was supervising claimed Forte offered him $100 to perform a sex act. The Sheriff's Office has asked others who may have information about Forte's behavior to call and has received some potential tips.

Some parents of children who attend the Our Lady of Lourdes parish school are rightly upset that Forte was hired and want answers from the church.

Forte is innocent of the new charges until proved guilty. However, he was not innocent in the Polk County case. The church just seems to have shrugged that off.

It is a sad fact that even churches can't trust the word of job applicants, especially those whose duties will give them access to children and teens. Background checks are a no-brainer. So is waiting for the results.

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 02:30:38]