MISSOURI
KQ2
The Catholic Church goes to court. Sixteen sexual-abuse cases involving five former priests from the St. Joseph-Kansas City Diocese are pending in Kansas City.
Although the St. Louis Archdiocese settled cases out of court, plantiffs in the Kansas City cases will see a judge.
Up the road, Conception Abbey says it takes sex abuse matters seriously and is, in fact, changing its course requirements.
KQ2`s Maggie Crane goes inside the abbey.
Prayers are offered up at Conception Abbey for those affected in pending sexual-abuse cases. The abbey says three precautions are now in place to gaurd against future abuse. Two of the precautions have already been implemented. The first is preliminary screenings for potential seminarians.
"Young men who want to join the seminary, they have to go through a psychological evaluation, they have to have references, there are background checks done on them. I mean, it`s a pretty extensive process," Dan Madden, director of development and communication, says.