Assignment Record – Rev. Chester "Chet" E. Gaiter, s.j.

Summary of Case: Rev. Chester "Chet" Gaiter professed vows as a Jesuit brother of the Missouri Province in 1962. He worked as an infirmarian for Jesuit communities in Kansas City and St. Louis before attending divinity school. Gaiter was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus in 1976. During his priesthood he pastored several parishes. He served also as a campus minister and religion teacher at Cardinal Ritter High School in St. Louis. Gaiter retired in the mid-1990s, reportedly due to problems with memory loss, which led to a diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease. In the 2000s two men - who came forward separately - accused Gaiter of having sexually abused them while they were Cardinal Ritter students in the 1980s. One of the men accused three other priests as well, two of whom taught at Cardinal Ritter High, and one of whom the man said began to molest him when he was a third grader in a St. Louis parochial school. This accuser said the priests plied him with alcohol and drugs. Gaiter died in 2010.

Ordained: 1976
Died: Aug. 14, 2010

1962

Cincinnati archbishop was Karl Joseph Alter (1950-1969).

1963

St. Louis Archbishop was Joseph Elmer Ritter (1946-1967).

1968

Kansas City-St. Joseph bishop was Charles Herman Helmsing (1962-1977).

1973

St. Louis Archbishop was John Joseph Carberry (1968-1979).

1976

Denver archbishop was James Vincent Casey (1967-1986).

1977

Carberry was succeeded by John Lawrence May (1980-1992).

1983

Los Angeles archbishop was Timothy Manning (1970-1985).

1984

May was replaced as St. Louis archbishop by Justin Francis Rigali (1994-2003).

St. Louis

• Gaiter was accused in a lawsuit settled in April 2007 of the sexual abuse of a Cardinal Ritter student in the 1980s. The accuser said Gaiter was one of four St. Louis priests who sexually abused him, and that the abuse by one of them started when he was a third grader at a parochial school. He said the priests plied him with drugs and alcohol.

• In a November 2007 lawsuit a man accused Gaiter of having sexually abused him at Cardinal Ritter Prep. between 1985 and 1987.

St. Louis

1993

Belleville bishop was Wilton Daniel Gregory (1993-2004).

St. Joseph's had a catechesis program with 25 students.

Per news reports, Gaiter was showing signs of memory loss after his move to St. Joseph's, and had to retire.

1995

Raymond Leo Burke succeeded Rigali as St. Louis Archbishop (2003-2008), followed by Robert James Carlson
(2009-).

Gaiter was diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease and was moved to the Jesuit Hall community. Fusz Pavilion was a skilled nursing facility for Jesuits of the Missouri Province.

Gaiter died Aug. 14, 2010.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1977-2011)

• Church Settles Suit Accusing Four Priests of Abuse, Associated Press, carried in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 2007
• Sexual Abuse Settlement Reached against Former ESL Priest and Two Others, Belleville News-Democrat, April 19, 2007
• Civil Suit against 3 Priests Is Settled, Missouri Man to Receive $140,000. Allegations Included Sexual Abuse, Associated Press, carried in Kansas City Star, April 20, 2007
• Man Abused by Priests Urges Blacks to Speak Out, By Sylvester Brown Jr., St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 10, 2007
• Clergy Sex Suit Settled, By Alvin A. Reid, St. Louis American [St. Louis MO], June 13, 2007
• St. Louis: New Suit Alleges Abuse at Cardinal Ritter Prep, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 22, 2007
• SNAP Says SLU Shelters Sex Offenders, Challenges Sam Simon, By Chris King, The St. Louis American, May 13, 2009
• Gaiter, Chester E., Jesuit.org, February 11, 2011

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Gaiter's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on June 15, 2013.