DALLAS (T)
Morning News
February 1, 2019
Kevin Krause, Dana Branham, Sarah Sarder, LaVendrick Smith and Charles Scudder
After the Catholic Diocese of Dallas released the names of 31 clergy members deemed “credibly accused” of sexually abusing kids since 1950, Danny Blonien went to church.
Blonien, 57, has been a parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in East Dallas for 27 years. He’s a member of the church’s choir.
In the 1990’s, he and his wife had counseling sessions with Jeremy Myers, one of the accused priests on the list released Thursday.
Blonien said late Thursday that the news stunned him. The Myers he knew on a first-name basis was warm and engaging and could connect biblical Scripture to contemporary times with ease. He never suspected that Myers, who the diocese said was “suspended” from service in 2018, could be accused of sexual abuse.
“It’s kind of a shock. It’s visceral,” Blonien said. “That’s not consistent with the man that I knew, but you know, people shock you all the time. You think you know them.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.