TOPEKA (KS)
Lawrence Journal-World
March 13, 2019
By Dylan Lysen
A bill that would require clergy to be mandatory reporters of suspected sexual assault received broad support during its first hearing in the Kansas Legislature.
Several people who identified themselves as victims or related to victims of sexual violence spoke Wednesday in support of Senate Bill 218 before the Kansas Senate’s state and federal affairs committee. Baldwin City Democrat Sen. Tom Holland introduced the bill in January.
The bill would add religious leaders, regardless of religion, to already existing laws that require teachers, social workers, firefighters, police, psychologists, therapists and other professionals to relay information of possible sexual assaults and other abuse to law enforcement.
“This, to me, is a no-brainer,” Holland said. “This is an issue across all religions and denominations.”
Janet Patterson, a Wichita woman who said she has fought for years to shed light on sexual violence committed by Kansas priests, shared the story of her son Eric, who killed himself at the age of 29. Patterson said that shortly before Eric’s death, she learned that Eric said he had been sexually assaulted by Robert Larson, a Catholic priest in Wichita. Larson pleaded guilty in 2001 to abusing three altar boys and another man, and he served several years in prison before his death in 2014, according to the Wichita Eagle.
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