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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. 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.
In 1990, Ritter was forced to resign from Covenant House after allegations of sexual and financial misconduct. It was one of the most widely publicized cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. However no charges were filed against him. Independent investigation commissioned by the charity found none of the allegations of sexual misconduct can be proved beyond any question, but that cumulative evidence was extensive.
He also left the Franciscans, but retained his priestly faculties. He retired to a small town in upstate New York.
In 1947 following the war, he took the name Bruce when he entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He transferred for a time to explore monastic life as a Trappist, but returned. Ritter was ordained as a Franciscan in 1956. He completed his doctoral thesis on The Primacy and the Council of Florence at the Conventual seminary in Rome in 1959, but never revised or published it in an academic journal. After a series of short-term teaching assignments at a variety of Franciscan institutions, Ritter arrived at Manhattan College in the Bronx to teach theology in 1963.Wosh, Peter J. Wosh, House: Journey of a Faith-Based Charity, pp. 13-35. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. . Accessed January 17, 2018.
By the late 1980s, Covenant House had moved away from the small group home approach and opened large shelters with training programs in seven United States cities, as well as in Canada (e.g. Toronto) and Latin America. Its budget approached US$90,000,000, and it spent three times what the federal government did on runaways. He called the teenagers in the Covenant House "my kids", "nice kids", and "gorgeous kids". Ritter wrote two books, Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street (New York: Doubleday, 1987) and Sometimes God Has a Kid's Face, which detailed his experience in starting up Covenant House and provided his perspective on homeless teenagers.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan praised Covenant House in his State of the Union address for their efforts in aiding homeless and runaway youth. In 1985, Ritter served on US Attorney General Edwin Meese's Commission on Pornography.
In 1988, Ritter received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.
On January 24, 1990, the Village Voice reported that John Melican, 34, of Seattle, had recounted that from the time he was 16, he had an intermittent 13-year sexual relationship with Ritter.Philip Nobile, "Body and Soul: New Allegations About the Secret Life of Father Ritter," Village Voice, 24 January 1990 Melican repeated his claims to the New York Times and the Seattle Times, Rick Anderson, "A Life In Ruins And Molestation Allegations Against A Priest", Seattle Times, 10 February 1990, accessed 19 September 2013 which published them in early 1990.
The New York Times reported that a third man, Darryl Bassile, 31, had approached the paper in mid-January to say he too had had sexual relations with Ritter when a youth. He had complained earlier to the Franciscan friary in Union City, New Jersey, after he heard of Kite's charges, and it started an investigation. A fourth accusation was made by Paul Johnson, 33, an admitted felon who claimed that he was involved with Ritter for six years.
Ritter denied that he had a sexual relationship with any of these men. These allegations were not brought to court, and no charges were filed by the district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau or state attorney general Robert Abrams.
A report prepared for Covenant House by Kroll and Associates and the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore cited fifteen cases of reported sexual contacts between Ritter and youths sheltered at Covenant House or young adults working there as volunteer counselors in what was called the Faith Community. The report did not specifically say all were male, but those who have come forward publicly with allegations about sexual activities have all been male youths. After a five-month investigation, 150 interviews, and the poring over of thousands of pages of documents, the report noted that on the subject of sexual misconduct, "none of the allegations, when viewed individually, can be proved beyond any question" but said, "The cumulative evidence discovered by Kroll in the course of its investigation that Father Ritter engaged in sexual activities with certain residents and made sexual advances toward certain members of the Faith Community is extensive."Charles Sennott, Broken Covenant (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992) is Sennott's full account of the controversy. Its preparation was supervised by Robert J. McGuire, a former New York City Police Commissioner and then senior managing director of Kroll.
Additional allegations surfaced concerning financial improprieties and administrative irregularities at Covenant House. Charles Sennott, a reporter for the New York Post, broke the story, and it became a tabloid sensation into the early months of 1990.Charles Sennott, Broken Covenant (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992) is Sennott's full account of the controversy. The earlier report also cited a number of minor financial irregularities, but added that fundraising was professionally and efficiently managed. Despite mounting a vigorous public relations defense and denying any wrongdoing, Ritter was forced to resign from Covenant House in February 1990.
Ritter left the Franciscan order, but retained his priestly faculties by being incardination into a diocese in India. Eventually he retired to the small town of Decatur, New York. From 1990 until the end of his life in 1999, he celebrated Mass privately in his home and attended retreats.
Ritter died of cancer at the age of 72.Wosh, Covenant House
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Categories: 1927 Births, 1999 Deaths, Covenant House, Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandals In The United States, Conventual Friars Minor, United States Navy Personnel Of World War Ii, People From Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, People From Trenton, New Jersey, Catholics From New Jersey, 20th-century American Roman Catholic Priests, Deaths From Cancer In New York, Hamilton High School West Alumni
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