MISSOURI
The Courier
By Kellie Houx
The Missionaries of the Precious Blood and the Deanery XIV, which includes five Northland churches, will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at St. James Catholic Church, 309 S. Stewart Road, for a service to promote healing for those affected by sexual abuse from church leaders.
The five churches are Church of the Annunciation in Kearney, St. Andrew the Apostle in Gladstone, St. Ann in Excelsior Springs, St. Gabriel the Archangel in Kansas City North and St. James.
Father Joseph Nassal, the provisional director of the Kansas City Provence of Missionaries of the Precious Blood, will co-officiate the evening service with Father Mike Roach, lead pastor at St. James. Along with the two local men, the Rev. James Van Johnston Jr., the bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, will preach and be on hand to listen.
Roach said the Catholic Church has been affected by sexual abuse from priests. In the early 2000s, the issue hit a new level in Boston with the revelation of the widespread nature of the abuse due to the number of Catholic churches in that metropolitan area.
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