Man Accused in Abuse Cases in Southern Illinois Removed from Priesthood

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 7, 2013

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/man-accused-in-abuse-cases-in-southern-illinois-removed-from/article_be4393da-e50e-50e4-af85-0738f79f69f0.html

The Diocese of Belleville Chancery Office building which sits across the street from St. Peter's Catholic Cathedral in Belleville on Aug. 10, 2011. Photo by Johnny Andrews of the Post-Dispatch

BELLEVILLE • Raymond Kownacki, the subject of court settlements over sexual abuse inflicted while he was a Catholic priest, has been laicized, the Diocese of Belleville confirmed.

Often called defrocking, the action means Kownacki no longer is a priest. The action was effective Jan. 11, the diocese says.

The diocese removed him from public ministry in 1995 after reviewing allegations of abuse by former altar boys and a woman who said he had raped her when she was a teen. Only the Vatican can laicize a priest.

Kownacki, 78, was ordained in 1960 and served at parishes in Washington Park, Valmeyer, Salem and St. Francisville, Ill. In 2011, the diocese paid $6.3 million in damages from a civil-court trial verdict in 2008 for his abuse of an altar boy in the 1970s. The diocese settled two other cases against him in 2012.

David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, welcomed the laicization, which he called rare in abuse cases.

"It brings some measure of validation and closure and healing to at least some of his victims," Clohessy said. "It makes it crystal clear to everyone that the Vatican thinks this man is dangerous."