Rev. Francis E. McGlynn Summary of Case: McGlynn has been accused by three women and one man of sexually abusing them when they were minors in the 1960s and 1970s. The male accuser said McGlynn sexually abused him over three years, beginning when he was 11 years-old. The women said they were victimized between the ages of 12 and 17. The Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese claims it first learned of accusations against McGlynn in April 2002. McGlynn retired in 1992, but continued to practice ministry at a Byzantine Rite church. He was removed from active ministry in April 2002. A lawsuit filed in Oct. 2011 alleges the diocese knew McGlynn was molesting children in the 1960s. McGlynn denied all accusations. Ordained: 1954 Retired: 1992 |
Start | Stop | Parish/Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1954 Kansas City bishop was Edwin Vincent O'Hara (1939-1956) |
1956 | Holy Cross | Kansas City | MO | 3/3, 3/4 | Holy Cross had a school with 332-315 students. |
1956 Springfield-Cape Girardeau bishop was Charles Herman Helmsing (1956-1962) |
1957 | Sacred Heart | Conway | MO | 1/1 | |
1957 Kansas City-St. Joseph bishop was John Patrick Cody (1956-1961) |
1958 | Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception | Kansas City | MO | 3/5 | The Cathedral had a school with 149 students. |
1958 | 1960 | St. Patrick's | St. Joseph | MO | 3/3, 2/2 | St. Patrick's had a school with 275-296 students. |
1960 Cody was succeeded by Charles Herman Helmsing (1962-1977) |
1964 | St. Catherine's | Kansas City • In an Oct. 2011 lawsuit a woman accused McGlynn of sexually abusing her in a janitor's closet when she was a 12 to 13 year-old student at St. Catherine's in 1963 and 1964. |
MO | 3/3, 2/3 | St. Catherine's had a school with 1,064-1,196 students. In a 2011 lawsuit, the Kansas-City St. Joseph diocese was said to have known in the 1960s that McGlynn was sexually abusing children. |
1964 | 1965 | Holy Trinity | Kansas City | MO | 2/2 | Holy Trinity had a school with 153 students. |
1965 | 1967 | St. Rose of Lima | Savannah | MO | 1/1 Adminstrator; Pastor | |
1967 | 1970 | Sacred Heart | Hamilton | MO | 1/1 | |
1967 | 1970 | St. Margaret Mary | Braymer | MO | This was a mission of Sacred Heart in Hamilton. | |
1970 | 1974 | St. Mary's | Independence • In April 2002 a woman reported to the diocese that McGlynn sexually abused her when she was 17 years-old in 1973 and 1974. The young woman was preparing to marry a Catholic man, and McGlynn was her catechism instructor. The lessons were private. She said McGlynn told her the sexual contact was a condition of her ability to marry within the church. • A man told the diocese in 2002 that McGlynn sexually abused him in 1973 and 1974, and had begun physically and emotionally abusing him in 1971, when the man was a 10 year-old St. Mary's altar boy. The man said when he was 11, he disclosed to McGlynn during confession that a neighbor was sexually abusing him. He said McGlynn proceeded to also sexually abuse him for the next three years, telling the boy it was Jesus Christ who was "engaging in love". • In an Oct. 2004 lawsuit a woman accused McGlynn of having sexually abused her between Sept. 1972 and May 1974, when she was a 15 year-old St. Mary's parishioner. |
MO | 2/2, 2/3 | St. Mary's had a school with 391-275 students. |
1970 | 1974 | Church of Santa Fe | Buckner | MO | This was a mission of St. Mary's in Independence. | |
1970 | 1974 | St. Thomas the Apostle | East Independence | MO | This was a mission of St. Mary's in Independence. | |
1974 | 1975 | Guardian Angels | Kansas City | MO | 3/3 | Guardian Angels had a school with 230 students. |
1975 Helmsing was replaced by John Joseph Sullivan (1977-1993) |
1978 | St. Therese |
Parkville | MO | 2/2, 2/3 | St. Therese had a school with 349-430 students. |
1978 | 1979 | St. Peter's | Kansas City | MO | 2/3 | St. Peter's had a grade school with 410 students, and a preschool with 64 students. |
1979 | 1981 | St. Louis | Kansas City | MO | 2/2 In residence. |
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1981 | 1992 | Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception | Kansas City | MO | 4/4, 5/5, 6/6 In residence |
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1992 | 2002 | St. Luke Byzantine | Sugar Creek | MO | This was an Eastern Rite parish of the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio. | |
1992 Raymond James Boland followed Sullivan as Kansas City-St. Joseph bishop (1993-2005) |
2002 | Retired | McGlynn had a Kansas City address. He is not indexed beyond the 2002 Directory. McGlynn was removed from active ministry in 2002, after two people came forward with accusations that he had sexually abused them as minors. By late 2004 two more people alleged he had sexually abused them in the past. McGlynn denied all allegations. |
Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1955-2002) • In Separate Lawsuits, Man and Woman Accuse Retired Priest of Abuse, By Kevin Murphy, Kansas City Star, October 10, 2003
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