More Abuse Survivors and Witnesses Step Forward in Missouri Catholic Clergy Probe

By Kurt Erickson
Post Dispatch
January 25, 2019

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/more-abuse-survivors-and-witnesses-step-forward-in-missouri-catholic/article_0632d38e-b9e7-5a82-bbad-9b0f2ae8cfb2.html

Missouri.jpg Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, (right), speaks on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, at a news conference at his downtown office to announce a new effort in conjunction the U.S. Attorney's office to combat crime in the city of St. Louis. With him is Deputy Attorney General Cris Stevens. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com

An estimated 70 people have completed an online form saying they were either a victim or a witness to abuse by Catholic priests as part of an investigation underway by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

That number is up from the 50 survivors and potential witnesses who contacted the office in the first month of the probe, which was launched in August by Schmitt’s predecessor, Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Although a spokesman for Schmitt provided an update on how many people have contacted the office, he said he could not provide answers to the Post-Dispatch about other aspects of the investigation, including how many attorneys are working on the case and whether there is a timeline to conclude the proceedings.

“The other questions I can’t comment on since this is an ongoing investigation,” said Chris Nuelle.

But, the response shows Schmitt, who was sworn into office three weeks ago, is continuing the investigation Hawley began last year after a grand jury in Pennsylvania issued a blistering report that said church leaders had covered up sexual abuse by hundreds of priests over seven decades.

At the time, Hawley told reporters the office will work as quickly as possible to review all evidence reported and collected by the office, but also said the Pennsylvania grand jury took two years to complete its work.

In Illinois, former Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a preliminary report in December — five months after launching an investigation in response to the Pennsylvania report — that found allegations of child sexual abuse against at least 500 clergy across the state’s six dioceses that church officials knew about but never made public.

The allegations brought the total number of accused clergy reported to Catholic officials to at least 690, Madigan said.

Before winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in the November election, Hawley’s attorneys had inspected records in the Catholic Church's four dioceses in the state, including the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Kansas City-St. Joseph, Springfield-Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City.

Those records include personnel files, records relating to allegations of abuse, and other potentially relevant materials from Catholic organizations across the state.

In October, the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese identified three priests accused of sexually abusing children four decades ago. Two of those priests have died and one retired from active ministry in 2011.

In November, the Jefferson City diocese independently released a list of 33 priests and religious brothers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Bishop Shawn McNight said the internal review found that those priests have either been removed from ministry or are deceased.