ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV
Posted on July 17, 2013
(KMOV) – The St. Louis Archdiocese is responding to criticism over a planned prayer service for the exoneration of a local priest charged with sexual abuse.
A posting on Facebook was encouraging parishioners to join cathedral young adults to pray for the exoneration of Father Joseph Jiang during Holy Hour.
Jiang is charged with sexual abuse of a minor and witness tampering.
The “Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests” held a news conference asking how such a prayer service could be planned.
Prosecutors allege Father Jiang molested a teenage girl on four different occasions while staying at her home in Old Monroe, Missouri. Theysaid he then left a check for $20,000 on the windshield of the car belonging to the victim’s family.
People outside the Cathedral Basilica had mixed reactions to the idea of a public prayer service.
“That’s just weird, why you would be praying for someone who’s abusing children,” one person said.
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