Virgil Bradley
(Gabriel) Tetherow* published in a Catholic Blog:
Knights of
Divine Mercy (http://www.knightsofdivinemercy.com/2010/12/04/fr-isaacs-contact-information/)
fr. gabriel tetherow says: August
13, 2015 at 3:42 pm
“Fr.
Isaac Mary Relyea is now a member of my community the
Servants Minor of St. Francis and he is saying mass everyday
and will soon be taking over a parish in Philadelphia.”
It has come to our attention that Tetherow is again passing around an argument offered in his defense which was formally retracted and apologized for many years ago. Now that Tetherow is reforming his order we offer again a public evaluation of the man’s character.
I had direct experience dealing with Tetherow over several years. In fact, I am the only one foolish enough to
have defended this man in the public forum with credible arguments, a defense
which I have publically apologized for because the arguments were proven to be
entirely grounded upon lies, half-truths, and factual distortions provided by Tetherow. Despite my
public apology, Tetherow still passes the defense
around. If Tetherow
wants to defend his name in this post or any other internet forum, I welcome
the opportunity to confront him with his own record for the purpose of offering
a charitable warning to other Catholics.
At any other time in the Church history Tetherow
would never be permitted to be involved in pastoral care again. At best he would be restricted to a monastery
for a life of supervised penitence, and at worse, a life in clerical prison if
he escaped burning at the stake. Virgil Bradley (Gabriel) Tetherow
is a convicted felon on child pornography related charges and a
homosexual. The charge of “convicted
felon” is a matter of public record. The
charge of homosexuality is based upon indirect evidence by his many
associations with known homosexuals and a convicted homosexual child abuser who
was his principle advocate whose assistance prevented him from going to prison.
His original group of "Servants Minor of St. Francis" approved by
Bishop Timlin in Scranton was suppressed by Bishop
Martino within a month after he took over the diocese, not as Tetherow claims because of his traditional Catholicism, but
because his order was considered to be a scandalous playhouse by the diocese.
Bishop Martino confiscated the assets of the order and Tetherow
was made a diocesan cleric and given liberty to go to any parish in the diocese
who would take him.
After the suppression, Tetherow went by his own
choice, and not as he claims under obedience to Bishop Martino, to live with
his checkered friend Fr. Michael Kloton, who had a
reputation for pornography and long history of substance abuse, at the parish
of St. Ann in Tobyhanna where Kloton was pastor. The
friendship between Tetherow and Kloton
before the suppression of his order was established by sworn affidavits by
clerical staff at St. Ann parish and proven by photographic evidence. Tetherow had on
previous occasions taken the members of his order to St. Ann to be entertained
by Kloton. Before Tetherow
had taken up residence at St. Ann, Kloton was already
under investigation by the Diocese of Scranton because the clerical employees
of the parish had discovered and complained about pornography on the Kloton’s computers at the parish. They provided evidence to Bishop Timlin who did nothing beyond sending his representatives
to pressure the staff into dropping the matter and keeping their mouths
shut. It was the same St. Ann employees
who described in a sworn statement that the members of Tetherow's
order were notoriously “effeminate.” It
was while Tetherow was living at St. Ann with Kloton that Tetherow downloaded
child pornography. Once the child pornography was discovered on Tetherow’s personal computer, the police were called and Kloton pointed the finger at Tetherow
as the only possible culprit.
Tetherow confessed to the police of downloading child
pornography. He was arrested and charged with ten counts related to downloading
and using child pornography. He plea-bargained guilty to the lesser charge of
misuse of a communication facility and was sentenced to two years in 
prison which
was suspended on the condition that he serve the time at a monastery under the supervision
of its one and only monk, Fr. Phillip (Angelus) Ferrara. The monastery was Our Lady of Solitude
Retreat Home in Little Meadows, PA. Tetherow told everyone that he stayed at the monastery only
to help an old and infirm monk with the care of the property and lend personal
assistance. Another lie! Ferrara is two
years older than Tetherow and was in good enough
health to be walked off the grounds in handcuffs by the police. Not long after Tetherow
completed his sentence, his friend and mentor, Fr. (Angelus) Ferrara, was
arrested and charged for the homosexual abuse of a teenage boy, convicted, and
sentenced to prison in Pennsylvania. Tetherow’s confession to downloading child pornography was
also made to the diocese of Scranton and affirmed again in his canonical case
sent to Rome to contest his laicization by the diocese of Scranton. Tetherow now claims
that he pled guilty because he could not defend himself without violating the
confessional seal. That is nothing but
another big ugly lie which cannot stand the light of close examination. I leave it to anyone to ask an experienced
priest regarding the merits of this claim.
It was Tetherow’s friend, Fr. (Angelus) Ferrara, who
wrote the letter of recommendation to Rome in support of Tetherow
who was trying to canonically contest the process of laicization. Tetherow's canonical argument to Rome, I kid you not, was
that he had a long standing addiction to pornography, and, after the
suppression of his order, he became depressed and abused alcohol which lead to
his indiscrete use of child pornography. His argument continued that since he
had obtained clinical medical help and was no longer depressed or abusing
alcohol, therefore his addiction to pornography was under control and
consequently he was no longer likely to indulge in illegal forms of
pornography, and therefore, he should not be laicized.
Tetherow lost his canonical case and was laicized in
2015. It should be emphasized that he
was laicized through a formal canonical process in which he participated with
canonical legal representation. I do not
know the competency of his legal representation but even Perry Mason could not
have won his case.
I have personally caught Tetherow telling more lies than I can count or care to remember. Even now, after more than five years of
seeing this man, conversations with others uncover lies that he told. Most of them are petty lies to puff-up his
own image and usually include the demeaning others. But his lies are habitual and I can throw
more than dozen in his face that were witnessed by others that any Catholic
would be ashamed to confess only because they are the work of small and petty
soul. If he tells anyone something in
“confidence” they had better check the story out directly and at least twice
with other sources.
Anyone associated with Tetherow or his reconstituted order had better be aware of
his record because they will end up making it their own. Anyone who would entrust their spiritual
direction or the spiritual welfare of their children to this man will have no
excuse for any of the consequences that may follow.
A more detailed discussion of Tetherow's character can be found reading the CathInfo Blog posting:
http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Fr-Pfeiffer-mentions-a-Fr-Tetherow-who
D. M. Drew
Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic
Mission
York, PA
*AKA:
Virgil B. Tetherow
Virgil
Bradleigh Tetheaux
Virgil
B. Tetheaux
Bradleigh V. Tetheaux
U.
B. Tetheaux
Bradley
V. Teetherow
Bradley
V. Tetherow
V.
B. Tetherow
Bradleigh Tetheaux