Austin Catholic church removes accused priest's name from school building

By Kris Betts
KVUE TX
February 01, 2019

https://bit.ly/2GjfRGE

St. Louis Catholic School immediately moved to rename the building after learning its namesake had been accused of sexually abusing a minor.

AUSTIN, Texas — A Catholic church and school in North Austin is wasting no time getting rid of the name of a priest who was on this week’s list of clergy accused of sexually abusing minors.

St. Louis King of France Church off Burnet Road has a building at their school called “Wozniak Hall.” It’s named after Louis J. Wozniak, who was ordained in 1951, retired in 1999 and removed from the ministry in 2015.

One year after he was removed from ministry, Wozniak was pictured in the school’s newsletter receiving an award for “65 years of priestly service.”

Now we know Wozniak was "credibly accused" of sexually abusing or assaulting at least one minor.

The priest of St. Louis Church, Father James Misko, told KVUE they were not aware of Wozniak’s history until the list was released this week.

Father Misko said they had already planned on renaming several buildings on campus and immediately added Wozniak Hall to that list when the news came out this week.

They also removed the Wozniak name from their website. Until Friday, the website referenced "Wozniak Hall was added in 1982.”

Now, their website reads, “The Parish Activity Center was added in 1982.” 

KVUE asked a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Austin for more information on Wozniak, such as where the reported assault took place and when, but they could not provide that information.