Diocese seeks help to track ex-volunteer

One day after a man was indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager he met through a church youth group, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland on Wednesday requested parish officials to determine if John S. Skinner Sr. had volunteered to work with youth at their churches.

Skinner, 62, whose last known address is Stonington, worked as a volunteer with a youth group at the Catholic church in Lincoln.

He was indicted on Tuesday by a Penobscot County grand jury on six counts of gross sexual assault. He could face similar charges in other counties, according to prosecutors.

“We want to hear from all parishes whether John Skinner [Sr.] ever had any association with them or ever volunteered to work with youth groups or youth programs,” Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the diocese, said Wednesday. “We want to reach out to victims and offer them help.”

She said that the request for information was sent Wednesday afternoon to all 135 parishes in the state.

Bernard said Tuesday that earlier this year, police informed the diocese of their investigation into the incidents in Lincoln. She said that no complaints about Skinner, who has no criminal record, had been reported to the diocese previously.

Robert Rayner, 39, of Stonington said Tuesday that the investigation was triggered when he forced Skinner to speak with law enforcement officials in April.

A relative of the victim named in Tuesday’s indictment, Rayner has said that since the 1970s, Skinner has worked with Catholic youth groups in at least five parishes in addition to St. Mary of Lourdes in Lincoln.

“We want to know where and when [Skinner] may have volunteered so we have information to offer the police,” Bernard said Wednesday.

The spokeswoman said that because parishes rarely “kept records in an organized manner regarding volunteers,” long-time parishioners’ memories could be the only source of information.

So far, she said, diocesan officials have determined that Skinner volunteered as an adult supervisor for the youth group at the Lincoln church in the 1990s, but are still researching where else he may have been involved with youth groups during the past 30 years.

The spokeswoman said that once it is determined when and where Skinner volunteered, the diocese would send affected parishes letters to be read from the pulpit urging possible victims to contact local police and seek help from the diocese.

Bernard said Tuesday that the diocese has offered to pay for counseling for Skinner’s alleged victim in the Lincoln case.

Until last year, volunteers who worked with youth were not subject to criminal background checks.

A new program, called Protecting God’s Children, requires that all volunteers who work with children must undergo a criminal background check.

Even if it had been in place a decade ago when Skinner reportedly began volunteering at St. Mary of Lourdes, it would not have alerted anyone to potential abuse because he has no criminal record, Bernard said Tuesday.

Under the new program, church employees and volunteers are required to report suspected abuse to law enforcement officials.

Bernard urged people who may have been sexually abused by a man they met through a church youth group to contact Sister Rita-Mae Bissonnette at 773-6471.