Bad news out of Wheeling WV, about a Wheeling Jesuit U. philosophy teacher, an African priest, who has been jailed in Virginia on a sex charge.
The Rev. Felix Owino, a priest in the Religious Missionary Institute of the Apostles of Jesus, was arrested on July 8 in Fairfax, Va., on charges of aggravated sexual battery of a minor.
Fr. Owino, a native of Nairobi, Kenya, with a Ph.D. from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, was on summer break, visiting a Herndon (VA) family he knew well. The battery occurred in the family home, according to the charge. The alleged victim is an 11-year-old girl, a member of that family.
He taught at Wheeling Jesuit since 2008, first as a visiting professor, eventually (by July 4) an assistant professor. Most recently he taught an online course in Logic and Knowledge (PHI 105-81), in the first summer session, May 17 to June 28. He lived in a Weirton (WV) parish, saying mass and preaching on weekends. As of July 12, four days after his arrest, he had “no current responsibilities at the university and [was] not expected to return to campus,” the university announced, adding, “During his two years at Wheeling Jesuit, the campus authorities received no student complaints about his conduct.”
Information about him had been scrubbed from the university web site, including this paragraph, available through the Google cache:
Felix Charles Owino, A.J. is a member of the Religious Missionary Congregation of the Apostles of Jesus, the first African Congregation for Africa and the world. Fr. Felix has B.A , M.Th from Apostles of Jesus Affiliate of Urbanian University, Rome; M.A., Ph.D in Philosophy from Duquesne University. He has worked also as an administrator in Uganda Rector of Apostles of Jesus Minor Seminary; also as Rector of the National Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Nairobi Kenya. In United States, Fr. Felix worked in different Universities and Colleges of Higher Learning both in administrative and faculty capacities before joining Wheeling Jesuit University as Assistant Professor of Philosophy.
Fairfax County police responded late last Wednesday to the residence on Franklin Farm Road, where 44-year-old Felix Owino was accused of touching the child inappropriately, Officer Bud Walker, a Fairfax police spokesman, said.
Owino was considered a longtime friend of the family, Walker said.
He was being held without bond at Fairfax County’s Adult Detention Center, with a hearing set for Sept. 2.
Later:
On July 8, Felix C. Owino was arrested in Herndon on one count of aggravated sexual battery, according to Fairfax County police. Police responded to the home on Franklin Farm Road, where Owino, 46, was accused of touching the girl inappropriately, said Bud Walker, a Fairfax County police spokesman. Walker said Owino, who remained on the scene and had not attempted to leave, is a longtime acquaintance of the Herndon family. The girl was not physically injured, according to police.
Owino is currently being held without bond at the Adult Detention Center in Fairfax County. A hearing is set for Sept. 2, according to the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia. No attorney information has yet been made available. Owino’s charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and up to a $100,000 fine, Walker said.
He didn’t try to leave. He faces a stiff punishment.
Blithe Spirit 
I live in hot baking Washington, DC. My neighbor’s daughter was a sophomore student at Wheeling until a few weeks ago. She is transferring to Mount St Mary’s in Emmitsburg. When her parents asked her why, she responded that Wheeling was not the same school she went to two years ago as a freshman. During the last year the enviornment totally changed. There was little joy on campus, more people than usual were leaving on the weekends, faculty members and other workers seemed to feel down and lost enthusiasm for students. Many feared for their jobs. She blamed this on the unjust and despicable sacking of Fr. Julio.
She told her parents that 40+ new freshmen students left Wheeling at the end of their first semester. That was after four months on campus! It was not the school they signed up for. I recently heard from an alumnus and friend of a board member that the attrition rate over the summer will reflect what happened at the end of the fall semester. That is a great loss of student population. We already know that the entering class is significantly lower than is needed to keep the college viable.
So what do we have now? A bishop, champing at the bit to move to Philadelphia, got what he wanted, the Sisters’ property at Mt. DeChantal. He got what he wanted only by pressing to rid himself of a smart, friendly and fearless Jesuit. The Sisters of the Visitation, loved and admired for 160 years, have left a depressed area where they were one of the few Catholic institutions that people could admire. And there is a college without a soul that is fast getting to the point of seeking a buyer for abandoned property.
One writer to another blog said that Fr. Giulietti might still return to Wheeling. He must be kidding! Even a generous man like Fr. Julio would not be so foolish as to buy deck chairs for the Titanic.
Someone said that the Jesuits would buy Fr. Felix freedom. He is not a Jesuit so the Jesuits will not pay off anyone to get him free. He will have to deal with his own destroyed life. Fr. Thomas Gleeson, however, is free to remain on the Wheeling board. A double pity.
Larry Catraro
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I would like to say that what Fr. Owino has done betrays his proffession as a minister to the people of God and also betrays the good name of the congregation gravely. Yes; we are human being who can repond to nature but not in that way by molesting the minors. Dear priests in the field, know that the world is watching you and whatever you do there talks much about the catholic church and above all the entire meaning of priesthood.
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Former Local Priest To Be Sentenced On Sex Charges Friday
Posted: 11:50 am EST February 18, 2011Updated: 12:04 pm EST February 18, 2011
A former local priest is set to be sentenced on sexual assault charges Friday in Virginia.
Rev. Felix Owino pleaded guilty in September to inappropriately touching an 11-year-old girl last year in Fairfax.
Owino most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Paul’s parish in Weirton. Until June, he was also a faculty member in the philosophy department of Wheeling Jesuit University.
He reached a plea deal with prosecutors that would have him serve no more than five years in jail.
However, members of the group Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priests — or SNAP — are urging the judge to hand down the maximum sentence. They said they suspect this isn’t Owino’s first crime against children and are concerned there are more victims.
Virginia police said they were called after a family reported Owino — their house guest and longtime friend — inappropriately touched a girl in their home. Prosecutors said Owino had been drinking the night of the incident.
In addition to jail time, Owino could also be deported because he’s not an American citizen.
Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Owino was ordained in 1992 and is a member of the Religious Missionary Institute of the Apostles of Jesus, headquartered in Philadelphia. He joined the faculty of Wheeling Jesuit in the fall of 2008 and taught for two consecutive terms, most recently instructing an online class. Prior to that, he worked at Magdalen College in New Hampshire and before that at Alvernia College in Reading, Pa.
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