CHEYENNE (WY)
Casper Star-Tribune
June 13, 2019
By Seth Klamann
The Diocese of Cheyenne published Wednesday the names of 11 priests who have faced credible allegations of abuse, most of whom were accused of the misconduct while serving in Wyoming.
The Wyoming Catholic Register newsletter publicly acknowledged abuse allegations against 10 new priests, nearly a year after the diocese announced it had reopened an investigation into former bishop Joseph Hart and found the accusers of the former leader of the Wyoming Catholic church credible.
In a column accompanying the list of names, Bishop Steven Biegler apologized to those he said had been abused by clergy.
“On behalf of the church, I apologize to each victim, not only for the misconduct of those who committed sexual abuse, but also for the failure of any Church leader who did not take appropriate action after having received a report of an allegation,” Biegler wrote. “Finally, I pledge to do all that we can to assist with your healing and to learn from errors in our past.”
The release comes amid a period of renewed scrutiny for the Catholic Church across the country. Last year across several states, dioceses and state governments released the names of those accused of abuse. A diocese in southern Alabama named 29 men who were credibly accused. In August, a grand jury in Pennsylvania wrote that more than 300 Catholic priests had abused more than 1,000 children over a period of several decades. The Jesuits, a Catholic order, released their own lists late last year, which included the names of two priests who served for a time at St. Stephens, on the Wind River Reservation. The allegations in those cases stemmed from incidents that did not occur at the reservation school.
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