A longtime Catholic priest in Leesburg and other Northern Virginia communities has been indicted by a Loudoun County grand jury on a charge of possession of child pornography, which resulted from a worldwide crackdown, officials said yesterday.
The Rev. Robert C. Brooks, 72, who led St. John the Apostle in Leesburg for 14 years, registered with a child pornography Web site in 2003, attracting the attention of federal investigators, authorities said. Brooks stepped down in October after Loudoun officials told the Diocese of Arlington that they intended to charge him, authorities said.
Brooks was indicted Monday and released on bond yesterday. He joined the diocese in 1974, and before going to Leesburg, he was pastor of churches in Falls Church, Annandale, Vienna and Alexandria.
Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman, whose office is prosecuting the case, would not say whether Brooks downloaded or purchased illegal images. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency overseeing the international investigation, said all suspects were identified from credit cards used to purchase subscriptions to child pornography Web sites from a company based in Belarus.
"It's disturbing and it's disappointing as a parishioner and as a Catholic," said Plowman, a member of St. John the Apostle. "But that doesn't cloud the job that I have to do here in any way. The protection of other people, especially children -- there isn't much greater a responsibility around than that."
Investigators have found no evidence that Brooks acted illegally with children at the Leesburg church or any other at which he served during his three decades with the Diocese of Arlington and 13 years with the Diocese of Richmond, Plowman said. The Diocese of Arlington said yesterday that it had received no other reports of sexual misconduct by Brooks.
"That's why it's particularly disconcerting -- because there was no indication," said the Rev. John P. Mosimann, temporary administrator of St. John's.
Brooks's telephone has been disconnected. His attorney, Rodney G. Leffler, did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The U.S. Catholic Church, embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal that has scarred parishes nationwide, continues to struggle with accusations against its clergy. Brooks is one of more than 190 people nationwide, a handful of them priests, who have been charged in the investigation, said Jamie Zuieback, an immigration and customs spokeswoman. Nearly 900 people in a dozen other countries also have been charged, she said.
The diocese removed Brooks from his ministry Oct. 4 after being notified of the impending charge, the diocese said in a statement yesterday. Brooks resigned the next day. Mosimann has served in his place since then.
In October, parishioners were told only that Brooks had resigned. So the news yesterday was shocking and saddening, said parishioner Pat Nolan. "This is a serious charge, and I grieve for Father Brooks if this is true that he stumbled. But we have to weigh that against all of the years of faithful service," he said.
But Nolan also praised the diocese for removing Brooks quickly. "We've all been pained at the scandals going on around the country," he said.
Mosimann said he will notify parishioners of the charge at Masses this weekend by reading a letter from Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde. The letter also will be inserted in church bulletins at St. John the Apostle and other parishes Brooks served in the diocese, church officials said.
"This is obviously a very difficult time for all of us," Loverde wrote in the letter.
In the letter, Loverde also asks parishioners to pray for Brooks, speak up if they are aware of any sexual misconduct involving minors and church officials and "be vigilant" about their computer use.
"Sadly, the Internet, which can be such a wonderful resource, also can be misused in ways that harm all of us," Loverde wrote.
