NOT OVER YET: The Vatican’s Sex-Abuse Tribunal and the Cover-Up that Went Unpunished.

St. Gregory’s Academy was a tiny, experimental school run by Catholics devoted to the traditional Latin Mass . . .

But according to whistleblowers and sworn testimonies, this “experiment in tradition” went horribly wrong: Heavy underage drinking, bed-sharing, and group nudity were standard occurrences among students, and the Academy’s close, unwholesome atmosphere provided an easy playing field for Urrutigoity’s methods of manipulation and seduction, which included plying students with alcohol and tobacco, and convincing them to sleep in his bed as part of their “spiritual direction.”

A federal lawsuit forced the priest, his Diocese, and the Academy’s owners to make a joint settlement of over $400,000 . . .

The new Academy shows every sign of carrying on under the same style of leadership that reportedly paved the way for Urrutigoity’s abuses. Clark hired as its headmaster an alumnus whom a whistleblower once described as a “devoted cult follower” of Urrutigoity’s. When Urrutigoity was accused in 2002, this future headmaster [PDF] helped to form “Friends of the Society of St. John,” [PDF] a small group devoted solely to asserting the innocence of Urrutigoity and other accused members of his Society. . . .

Other veterans of St. Gregory’s Academy, including two members of “Friends,” continued their careers as staff and faculty at the traditionalist Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (TMC).