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	St. Louis Says Joliet Didn't Tell Priest Past By David Heinzmann Chicago Tribune May 1, 2002 A priest sent to work at a St. Louis hospital in 1994 after the Joliet diocese settled a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing a minor enjoyed unrestricted status as a priest for eight years without Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis officials knowing about his history, church officials there said Tuesday. When Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch sent Rev. J. Anthony Meis to St. Louis to work as a hospital chaplain in 1994, he informed the administrators at St. Anthony's Medical Center that the priest had been in trouble for sexual misconduct with a minor. At the same time Imesch wrote a recommendation to the St. Louis archdiocese describing Meis as "a priest in good standing, with nothing that would impede his ministry," said Jim Orso, a spokesman for the St, Louis archdiocese. Based on Imesch's recommendation, St. Louis granted Meis unrestricted status as a priest, Orso said. But given Meis' past, Orso said, Imesch should not have recommended that St. Louis grant the priest "faculties"--permission to perform all the functions of a priest. Sister Judith Davies, Joliet diocese chancellor, said Tuesday she was not aware of such a letter from Imesch and she could not comment on it. The Joliet diocese announced Tuesday that Meis resigned April 24 from his position as a staff priest at St. Anthony's, a Catholic hospital in St. Louis County. The statement said Meis had retired. Earlier in April, another former Joliet diocese priest, Rev. Fred Lenczycki, also was recalled from a St. Louis hospital chaplain post, after church officials there learned of his past. The Joliet diocese had settled a court case that accused Lenczycki of molesting nine altar boys at a Hinsdale parish. Imesch said he told the former archbishop of St. Louis, now deceased, about Lenczycki when he was transferred. Meis served as pastor of St. Mary and Joseph Parish in Chebanse, a small town near Kankakee along Interstate Highway 57, from 1988 until 1994. He was removed from the parish in 1994 when a family accused him of sexual misconduct with a minor. The statement released Tuesday described the allegation as "reported and resolved" and said "a settlement was reached with the family." No civil lawsuit was filed and the case was never referred to police or prosecutors, Davies said. Imesch told hospital officials that Meis had completed a treatment program and "had given us the assurance that he was of no risk," said David Seifert, president and CEO of St. Anthony's. Meis, 66, lived in a private residence rather than at a parish during his time in St. Louis, Orso said. The hospital has no pediatric wing, Seifert said. The only pediatric patients treated by the hospital are in a psychiatric wing in a building separate from the main hospital where Meis worked, he said. Meis' main duties at the hospital were saying masses and administering sacraments, including last rites, Seifert said. Orso said archdiocesan officials learned about Meis past from hospital officials last week. Church officials immediately contacted the Joliet diocese Joliet church officials contacted Meis.
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