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Sample Page from the Official Catholic Directory:
Administrative and Parish Information with Links to the Documents

The sample page below, reproduced from the 1960 Official Catholic Directory, shows where information about administrative assignments may be found:

  Managers - The priests listed in our diocesan managers table are drawn from the administrative section of the Directory, highlighted in yellow below. In this year, one of these is Rev. Francis E. Bass, Diocesan Director of Vocations. Bass was appointed to this position by Bishop Ralph Hayes on 10/2/58, less than a month after Hayes read an obscene letter from Janssen to a victim, in which Janssen familiarly mentioned Bass.
  Deans - The priests listed in our deans table are drawn from the administrative section of the Directory, where they are boxed in blue below.
  Accused Priests - The careers of accused priests, which are detailed on our assignments page, are drawn from the parish assignment section of the Directory. On the page below, the assignments of three accused priests are boxed in red:
  Rev. Francis E. Bass is listed as the assistant at St. Joseph's in Davenport, where the parish school has 191 students. Bass's pastor at St. Joseph's, Rev. Louis A. Rohret, is listed as a diocesan judge and director of the Priests' Eucharistic League. While Bass was at St. Joseph's, he allegedly abused a victim whose affidavit about the abuse and his repeated attempts to report it is corroborated by a 1992 letter from Vicar General Morrissey to Bishop O'Keefe: "I don't think we can deny this telephone call." Thomas had reported the abuse when it happened in 1964, but unfortunately he reported it to Janssen at St. Mary's. See the next entry.
  Rev. James M. Janssen is listed below as the assistant at St. Mary's, where his pastor was Rev. James J. Hopkins. The parish school had 209 students. There were many complaints about Janssen's abusive behavior at St. Mary's, where he worked 1959-61: {1} {2} {3} {4} {5} {6} {7} {8} {9}. After St. Mary's, Janssen worked nearly 30 more years at three other parishes, where he allegedly abused many more boys.
  Rev. Donald Redmond is a Benedictine priest listed as an assistant at St. John's in Burlington. He and two other Benedictines are accused of abusing boys at St. John's and in Kansas, where their home monastery is located. Redmond worked at St. John's 1958-61, 1965-67, and 1974-84 (as pastor). Bishop O'Keefe stated in deposition that the Davenport diocese maintained files on non-diocesan priests serving in parishes, and there is circumstantial evidence that the diocese knew of the problem at St. John's as early as 1981, though they didn't admit it until 2002.

 


 
 

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