ARKANSAS
ABC 7
By Chuck Goudie
May 16, 2006 - Bishop Imesch's replacement is James Peter Sartain, who currently runs the diocese in Little Rock, Arkansas. He will oversee a diocese still struggling with priest sex abuse cases, lawsuits and questions about how the hierarchy has handled them. This Intelligence Report looks at how the new bishop may respond.
If you have never heard of Bishop Sartain, don't feel uninformed. The editor at our ABC affiliate in Little Rock didn't know the bishop was leaving and said he was rarely covered by reporters.
That could be because the diocese that covers the entire state of Arkansas has been almost unscathed by the priest sex abuse scandal, according to the bishop himself, who now finds himself consumed by questions about how he will handle one of the most troubled dioceses in the nation.