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| Accused Minister Is Now a Police Chaplain
SNAP
March 7, 2019
http://www.snapnetwork.org/accused_minister_now_minister_mar19
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and advocates will blast the KC MO
-- Police Department for having a chaplain who was accused of abuse,
-- Planning Commission for having him on their panel,
They will also
-- demand that his titles and roles be revoked, and
-- ask both bodies to apologize and more carefully vet future candidates for positions
WHEN
Thursday, March 7 at 11:15 a.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Kansas City MO Police Department, 1125 Locust in downtown KC MO
WHO
Three-five members of a nation-wide support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) including a St. Louis man who is an child sexual abuse victim and is the organization’s former long time director
WHY
KC MO Baptist minister Stan Archie is a chaplain with the KC MO Police Department.
However, Archie has been sued twice. One was a young woman who said he "used his position as pastor" to sexually abuse her when she was a 15 year old girl. The other was a woman who said he "sexually exploited" her as a church staffer by using his position as a pastoral counselor
The first case was resolved: not withdrawn, not tossed out, but resolved. The second case resulted in a $350,000 jury verdict against Archie’s church, though his lawyer claims the verdict “exonerated” Archie.
Three other women testified at the trial that Archie had abused them. Archie tried to get that verdict overturned, but a judge ruled against him. When he was sued, Archie stepped down as the chair of the Missouri Board of Education. Both women were represented by Kansas City’s most experienced and successful victims’ attorney, Rebecca Randles (816 931 9901, 816 510 2704 cell, Rebecca@randlesmatalaw.com)
Despite all of this, in January Archie was interviewed on the air by a local TV station and identified as a police department chaplain.
SNAP asks “Why take the risk that he might abuse his authority and prestige and hurt someone?” The group is confident that there other less-controversial and more appropriate clergy who would be willing to be a department chaplain. Using Archie, the organization contends, decreases trust in the department and might deter victims of sexual violence from reporting crimes.
That same TV news account reported that the KCPD “is seeking to double the number of chaplains who provide spiritual support to its rank and file.” SNAP is urging very thorough vetting of those prospective candidates.
According to his website and the Psychology Today website, Archie is a ‘licensed professional counselor in Kansas who has been in practice for two years and has a degree from Mid-America Nazarine University in Olathe Kansas.
The later site lists his “client focus” as “adolescents/teenagers (14 to 19)” and “heterosexual” people.
[that Archie’s still head of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, 4509 Troost Ave. KC MO (816-561-7791).http:]
Archie is also vice chair of the KC MO city planning commission.
[]
Archie’s office is at 8301 Stateline Road. He can be reached at 913 747 4132, 913 815 0418 or stan@sarchietherapy.com. He formerly led the Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, 4509 Troost Ave. in KC MO.
Archie’s not the only accused cleric who held this role. Starting in 1978, Msgr. Thomas J. O’Brien was also a KC MO police chaplain. He’s accused of and has been sued for allegedly assaulting at least two dozen kids.
[bishop-accountability.org]
Another former KC MO priest, Msgr. Thomas M. Reardon was among about 10 counselors working for Addiction Recovery Services, an agency whose counselors see clients referred to them by the Jackson County drug court. (The clients are drug-case defendants whom the court requires to get substance abuse treatment.) He still lives in the KC area.
[bishop-accountability.org]
CONTACT:
David Clohessy davidgclohessy@gmail.com, 314-566-9790, Zach Hiner zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009, Larry Davis 816 769 5899, ldavisvos@gmail.com
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