IOWA
Telegraph Herald
Mar 6, 2006
by MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON
Mel Loes tried to think about something else. Father Patnode was doing it again.
As he did many mornings, Loes, then 16, walked to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Key West, Iowa, to assist at Mass for the Rev. Joseph Patnode.
And as had happened many of those mornings before Mass, Patnode molested the altar boy.
Loes had grown used to it.
Shortly after Patnode came to St. Joseph's as pastor in 1939, he started abusing Loes. It usually happened before Mass.
On another occasion, Patnode had the teenager drive him to Preston, Iowa, for an overnight stay at St. Joseph Church, where Patnode previously was assigned. That night, in a rectory bedroom, he assaulted Loes.
After the first time he was abused by Patnode, Loes went home and told his mother, "He's fooling around with me."