KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By STEVE ROCK
The Kansas City Star
A Kansas City-area man on Wednesday filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against a former local priest, calling the priest’s alleged actions “utterly repugnant.”
The plaintiff, identified in court papers as “John Doe E.K.,” alleged he was sexually abused by the Rev. Joseph Hart on at least two occasions in the early 1970s at St. John Francis Regis church.
The suit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Hart, who served at several parishes in Kansas City, is now a retired bishop in Wyoming. Hart’s attorney, Larry Ward, said Wednesday he had not read the lawsuit but that Hart “absolutely, categorically” denied any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit was revealed at a sidewalk news conference just outside the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph chancery in Kansas City. The news conference was organized by a Chicago-based organization called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.