Assignment Record– Rev. Alexander R. Anderson

Summary of Case: A priest of the St. Louis archdiocese ordained in 1975, Anderson assisted at several parishes before being named pastor of a parish in Eureka, was chaplain of St. Joseph's Home for Boys, and served on the archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal. In 2002 Anderson was accused publicly of child sexual abuse by a man in his 20s who said the abuse occurred when he was a young resident of the boys' home in the 1980s. Anderson denied the abuse and sued his accuser. The accuser countersued. In 2004 both suits were dropped and the archdiocese gave the former boys' home resident a settlement of $22,500 for counseling, admitting no wrongdoing and saying the money was "an act of kindness." Also in 2004 a second man accused Anderson of sexually abusing him as a boy, in 1988, at the boys' home. The archdiocese believed Anderson's denials, and he was kept in ministry.

Ordained
: 1975

   

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1975

St. Louis Archbishop was John Joseph Carberry (1968-1979).

1979 St. Pius V St. Louis MO 2/4 Parish had a school with 358-329 students.

1979

Carberry was succeeded by John Lawrence May (1980-1992).

1980 St. Blaise Maryland Heights MO 3/3 Parish had a school with 285 students.
1980 1981 Immaculate Heart of Mary St. Louis MO 3/3 Parish had a school with 476 students.
    Diocesan Marriage Tribunal St. Louis MO    
1981 1983 St. Simon's Concord Village MO 3/3 Parish had a school with 432-475 students.
1983 1988 St. Joseph's Home for Boys

St. Louis

In 2002 a man in his twenties accused Anderson of having sexually abused him when he was a child at St. Josephs' Home for Boys. Anderson denied the allegations and sued his accuser. His accuser countersued. In 2004 the archdiocese gave Anderson's accuser $22,000. for couseling, as "an act of kindess."

A second accusation surfaced in 2004 by a man who said Anderson also sexually abused him as a boy at St. Joseph's in 1988.

MO chaplain The Home had 44 boys. It also had day treatment students.
1988 1992 St. Andrew's Lemay MO 2/2 Parish had a school with 221-186 students.

1992

Justin Francis Rigali replaced May as St. Louis archbishop (1994-2003).

1993 Assumption Mattese MO 2/3 Parish had a school with 432 students and a religious education program with 230 students.

1992

Raymond Leo Burke succeeded Rigali (2003-2008).

2008 Sacred Heart Eureka MO 1/1

Parish had a school with 184-275 students and a religious education program with 170-352 students.

When Anderson was accused in 2002 of child sexual abuse, Bishop Dolan believed Anderson's denial "on the spot" because Anderson "said it with a lot of peace." Dolan headed the review board, which decided the accusation had no merit. Within two months of the accusation, the statute of limitations ran out, and prosecutors did not have enough time to persue the case before it did so.

2008

Burke was replaced by Robert James Carlson
(2009-).

2020 St. Rose of Lima De Soto MO 1/1

Parish had a school with 71 students and a religious education program with 127 students

Anderson remains pastor of this parish in August 2020.


Sources:
Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1976-2009 )

Activists Will Challenge Church over Priest, by William C. Lhotka, Post-Dispatch, January 17, 2004
Priests Sue over Allegations, by Guy Kovner, Press Democrat, downloaded March 22, 2004
Priest's Life Turned Upside down by Abuse Charge Judged 'Unfounded', by Joseph Kenny, Catholic News Service, April 8, 2004
St. Louis Archdiocese to Settle 18 Abuse Cases, Associated Press, August 26, 2004
Diocese Settles 18 Abuse Suits, by Tim Townsend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 2004
Problem Priests: Settling and Spinning, Post Dispatch, downloaded September 7, 2004
Complex Struggle: Prelate's Record in Abuse Crisis, by Serge Kovaleski, New York Times, May 16, 2010

 

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Anderson''s career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on January 28, 2015.