Eight Catholic Priests with Memphis Assignments on List of Abuse Allegations

By Bill Dries
Daily Memphian
November 5, 2018

https://dailymemphian.com/section/metro/article/1077/Eight-Catholic-priests-with-Memphis-assignments-on-list-of-abuse-allegations

Three of eight former Roman Catholic priests connected to the Catholic Diocese of Nashville accused of child sexual abuse and dismissed from the priesthood had church assignments in Memphis.

They are included in a longer list released Friday in Nashville of 13 priests accused of child sexual abuse. Until the establishment of the separate Diocese of Memphis in 1971, the Nashville Diocese covered the entire state of Tennessee.

The list includes Paul W. St. Charles, who was the first director of the Catholic Youth Office for the new Memphis Diocese. St. Charles, ordained in 1966, had six civil lawsuits filed against him in Shelby County Circuit Court alleging child sexual abuse while he was a priest in Memphis. The lawsuits followed St. Charles’ suspension from all priestly duties in 2004 by then-Memphis Bishop J. Terry Steib.