Another Kc Predator Priest Passes Away

SNAP
December 5, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/mo_another_kc_predator_priest_passes_away

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is disclosing that another Kansas City Catholic priest who was accused of molesting children has passed away.

He is Fr. Bede Parry who worked in Conception, Missouri and in Nevada, Minnesota and New Mexico.

Parry’s passing was noted on the Facebook page of his lawyer, Joseph Paul Smith:

[link] https://www.facebook.com/joseph.smith.3950?fref=ts

Parry belonged to a Catholic religious order known as the Benedictines.

In 2011, Parry was sued for allegedly molesting a boy in the late 1980s in northwest Missouri. He admitted to his church supervisors that he had been involved in three “inappropriate relationships.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are urging Bishop Robert Finn to “aggressively seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Parry’s crimes.”

“Obviously, Fr. Parry can’t be criminally charged, but it’s possible other current and former Catholic officials who may have ignored or concealed his crimes might be prosecuted,” said SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, “But that will only happen if others with knowledge or suspicions of wrongdoing speak up.”

“Bishop Finn pledged to be open and transparent about child molesting clerics,” said SNAP Director David Clohessy of St. Louis, “Yet twice in two months, he’s told no one that serial predator priests have passed away.”

Another Kansas City predator priest, Msgr. Thomas O’Brien, passed away in October. Apparently, his death was not announced in The Catholic Key, the diocesan newspaper.

"Our hearts ache for the victims of Msgr. O'Brien and Fr. Parry," said Clohessy. "It might provide them some sorely-needed consolation to know that these clerics can't hurt any other kids. We hope Bishop Finn will show some compassion and courage and spread the word about the passing of these two priests."

Parry’s photo and work history are here:

[link]

Here’s a summary of the case against Parry, from the website BishopAccountability.org:

A former Benedictine priest, Parry was accused in a June 2011 lawsuit of having sexually abused a boy in 1987. The boy was a member of a choir Parry directed at Conception Abbey in MO. The boy told his parents the following day, and the parents confronted Parry's superiors, to whom Parry had previously admitted to "inappropriate sexual relationships." In a July 2011 lawsuit Parry was accused of sexually abusing a 14-15 year old boy in 1982. This accuser said he was a piano student of Parry's and member of Parry's boys choir. Parry acknowledged in 2011 that "most of the allegations are true." Parry was sent to New Mexico for sex offender treatment for three months in 1987. He went on to work in the Southwest for Lutheran and Catholic churches. He was not allowed to return to the Benedictine Abbey, after which he left the Catholic priesthood. A psychological test administered to Parry in 2000 during his efforts to become a minister determined that Parry was a "sexual abuser with the proclivity to reoffend with minors." Parry nonetheless became an Episcopal priest. He served as an organist, choir master and assistant priest at a Las Vegas church from 2000-June 2011, stepping down after the first lawsuit was filed and publicized.