Rev. Donald Redmond, O.S.B.

Summary of Case: Accused in 2002 of sexual abuse of boys at St. John's parish in Burlington IA (where he worked for 15 years, 10 of them as pastor) and at Sts. Peter and Paul in Seneca KS. In addition to those parishes, Redmond worked at 7 parishes in Kansas (2 of them twice), and in the 1960s he also worked briefly as a chaplain at Bishop Lillis High School in Kansas City (in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese) and as a staff member at the Catholic Student Center at Kansas University in Lawrence KS. Redmond was ordained in 1957.

Ordained: 1957
Incardinated: Listed in Kansas City KS archdiocese, and in Davenport for the years he spent in Burlington IA

Start	Stop	Parish	Town	State	Position	Comment
1957	1958	St. Benedict's Abbey	Atchison	KS
1958	1961	St. John's	Burlington	IA	2/3, 3/3. Pastor was Rev. Ambrose Keating, O.S.B., then Rev. Anthony Reilman, O.S.B. Third priest was Rev. Fabian Harshaw, O.S.B. under Keating. Under Reilman, Redmond dropped to the third spot, and the second-listed priest was Rev. Aloysius Kropp, O.S.B. See our year-by-year list of St. John's priests.
1958	1961	St. Mary's	Augusta	IA		Attended from St. John's, Burlington.
1961	1964	Sts. Peter and Paul	Seneca • Accused in 2002 by several individuals of abusing them while they were minors at Sts. Peter and Paul.	KS	3/3. Pastor was Rev. Basil Finken, O.S.B., and the second priest was Rev. Edward Schmitz, O.S.B.	The pastor was also chaplain at the Seneca Hospital in Concordia KS, 32 beds, approximately 1,000 patients in and out yearly.
1964	1965	Bishop Lillis High School	Kansas City	MO	Chaplain	This school in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese had 548 pupils. Sr. Elizabeth Ann, O.S.B. was the principal.
1965	1967	St. John's	Burlington • Accused in 2002 of abusing a boy at St. John's. Another account places the abuse during Redmond's 1974-84 tour as pastor of St. John's.	IA	3/3. Pastor was Rev. Anthony Reilman, O.S.B., and the second priest was Rev. Placidus Kieffer, O.S.B.
1965	1967	St. Mary's	Augusta	IA		Attended from St. John's, Burlington.
1967	1969	St. Lawrence Catholic Student Center Kansas University Center and Residence	Lawrence	KS	2/2, 2/3. Director of the center and chaplain of the Newman Club was Rev. Brendan Downey, O.S.B. In 1968-69, Rev. Arnold Tkacik was added as "Prof."
1969	1972	Holy Family	Eudora	KS	1/1 as administrator to begin; then 2/2 with Rev. Patrick G. Hogan, O.S.B. as pastor.	In the 1971 and 1972 OCDs, Redmond is listed in the index as being at Holy Family, but the entry for the parish in the Kansas City KS archdiocese's pages lists only Hogan.
1972	1973	Benedictine College	Atchison	KS	Chaplain	1,288 students. Redmond is listed as chaplain at Benedictine College. He is indexed as being at St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, but he is not listed among the priests there.
1973	1974	St. Benedict's (parish)	Atchison	KS	Co-pastor with Rev. William Fangman, O.S.B.	Upper grade school (consolidated) was run by Benedictine Sisters and had 244 students in 1973-74.
1973	1974	St. John's	Doniphan	KS	Co-pastor.	Mission attended from St. Benedict's parish, Atchison.
1974	1984	St. John's	Burlington	IA	Pastor, 1/2. Rev. Florian Demmer, O.S.B., was the second priest into 1978. The 1978 Official Catholic Directory lists Demmer at St. John's; the 1979 doesn't index him at all; the 1980 lists him as back at St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison KS. Redmond is 1/1 into 1981. Then 1/2 with Rev. Timothy J. Sheedy (not O.S.B.) as the number two until Redmond left in 1984. Sheedy is first listed at at St. John's in the 1982 Directory; in the same Directory, Kieffer is not indexed at all, after working 1973-81 as pastor at Sacred Heart in Sabetha KS.	The school had 342 students in 1974-75 and was run by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Enrollment dwindled to 143 in 1979-80. In 1980-81, had a single "interparochial" elementary school, which was the school of St. Paul's parish with a few additional students from other parishes. After Redmond left St. John's, Rev. Albert Hauser, O.S.B. was pastor and sole priest 1984-90. Then in a highly unusual move, Very Rev. John M. Hyland moves from St. Joseph's in Fort Madison to become pastor at St. John's in Burlington, while remaining the Keokuk dean (1986-2000).
1981	1984	St. Mary's	Augusta	IA	Pastor, 1/2.	Mission attended from St. John's in Burlington. Previously, this had been a mission of St. Mary's in West Burlington. In the 1982 Directory year, when responsibility for the mission shifted to St. John's, Rev. Joseph P. Brady, in res. at St. Mary's in West Burlington, moved to St. Mary's in Keokuk, also in residence.
1984	1998	St. Benedict's (parish)	Atchison	KS	Pastor, 1/2 with Rev. Gerald Mesmer, O.S.B. as the number two into 1991; then 1/1	Atchison Catholic Elementary (Consolidated) had 317 students in 1984-85.
1998	2002	Sacred Heart	Sabetha	KS	Pastor, 1/1.
1998	2002	St. James	Wetmore	KS	Pastor, 1/1.	Mission attended from Sacred Heart, Sabetha.
1999	2002	St. Augustine's	Fidelity	KS	Pastor, 1/1.	Mission attended from Sacred Heart, Sabetha.
2002	2003	St. Benedict's Abbey	Atchison	KS

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy and Sons, 1958-2003).

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Redmond's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that in the U.S. judicial system, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

A Note on Nomenclature: We use the term "assignment record," instead of the more common "service record," because "service" is not an appropriate word for the activities of an abusive priest. Dioceses are often less than forthcoming about the activities of retired priests, but when we can determine those activities, we list them in these assignment records, particularly if they involve ministry. Retired priests remain under obedience to their bishop, and even the activities of laicized priests should be a concern to the diocese.

This assignment record was last updated on 10/27/04.