ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post Dispatch
February 22, 2019
By Kathy Peterson and Anne Harter
To the west, the Jefferson City Catholic diocese has posted a list of accused abusive priests on its website. To the south, the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese has too. To the east, the Belleville diocese has posted a list. In fact, more than half of America’s 187 dioceses have produced such lists, starting in 2002.
It’s not just dioceses. A St. Louis-based Jesuit region revealed a list of 42 accused clerics (with 12 who worked at one local high school.) But the St. Louis archdiocese steadfastly refuses to do so.
Arguably if any area prelate should do this, it should be Archbishop Robert Carlson. In court filings five years ago, his lawyers admitted that 115 of the archdiocese’s staff had been accused of sexual misdeeds.
According to BishopAccountability.org, only 58 St. Louis-area clerics are publicly identified as accused of abuse. That means no Catholic jurisdiction in the bistate area is hiding so many alleged child molesters. So only half of the priests, nuns, brothers and seminarians who church officials acknowledge face accusations are known to the public. (And that information has come mostly because of brave victims who’ve filed civil lawsuits.)
These lists are not panaceas. They are small, long-overdue steps toward transparency. They’re happening now because of intense pressure on bishops — from parents, parishioners, police and prosecutors. Over the past few months, 16 attorneys general have announced investigations into the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of abuse cases.
But they do make kids safe? Sometimes. A Jefferson City priest, for instance, went on to work at Disney World after being suspended. After the Springfield, Ill., bishop posted his “accused” list, an ex-priest was fired from his taxpayer-funded job.
Even those prelates who have posted such lists usually still fall short in several key ways.
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