Priest Removed 17 Years after Sexual Abuse Allegations Surfaced

By Fernando Alfonso
Houston Patch
January 31, 2019

https://patch.com/gdpr.html

The Galveston-Houston Archdiocese has removed a priest from ministry this month roughly 17 years after sexual abuse allegations were made against him. John T. Keller was removed from his position and is currently under investigation according to a list the diocese released Thursday afternoon of priests "whom allegations of sexual abuse of a minor have been admitted, substantiated or determined or considered to be credible." Keller's removal comes roughly two months after Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, called the claim against Keller "not a credible one," according to the Catholic News Agency.

Patch has reached out to the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese for comment and will update this story.

Keller was ordained in 1974 and was recently a pastor at Prince of Peace Catholic Community near Tomball, the Houston Press reported.

The allegations against Keller surfaced in 2002. According to BishopAccountability.org, a widely cited clergy-abuse tracking website, Keller allegedly "sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy in the early 1980s, while assigned to Christ the Good Shepherd in Spring."

"The complaint was made by the boy's father, who had been a parish dean and a friend of Keller's," BishopAccountability.org states. "He said that on a camping trip with his son, Keller plied the boy with alcohol, then invited him into his bed where he put his hands into the boy's pants."

Keller reportedly admitted that he "crossed a proper boundary" with the boy but denied his behavior was abusive, BishopAccountability.org added. Ultimately, the review board members unanimously agreed that Keller "acted very inappropriately" but couldn't "conclude that additional acts occurred that would have constituted sexual abuse," the Dallas Morning News reported in June 2003.

The release of priest names Thursday by the archdiocese was a coordinated effort with the 14 others around Texas. There are 8.5 million Catholics and 1,320 Catholic parishes in Texas, Rev. Edward J. Burns said in a news release in early October.

"The Bishops of Texas have decided to release the names of these priests at this time because it is right and just and to offer healing and hope to those who have suffered," DiNardo said in a statement provided on the website with the names. "On behalf of all who have failed in this regard, I offer my sincerest apology. Our Church has been lacerated by this wound and we must take action to heal it."