Diocese of Springfield-cape Girardeau Releases List of Accused Priests
By Harrison Keegan
The bishop said in a letter this week the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has spent more than $700,000 over the last 30 years in connection with sex abuse claims. Bishop Edward Rice said this week's letter is the culmination of a review the diocese launched in August to get an accurate accounting of clergy sexual abuse over the diocese's 63-year history. The leader of a statewide support group said, however, the bishop should be doing more. This week's letter names 16 diocesan priests who were accused of abusing minors in cases that "have a semblance of truth," along with several other religious order priests who have ties to the area. All but three of those instances of abuse occurred before the 1990s, and none involve anyone in active ministry, according to the bishop's letter. Many of the accused priests are deceased. The letter also breaks down the costs associated with clergy sexual abuse in southern Missouri. The letter describes how $707,285 was spent since 1989. Of that money, $447,500 went to settling claims; $70,448 went to victim assistance for prescription costs, counseling and future funeral expenses; and $189,337 went toward legal fees and costs associated with preparing the report. None of those funds came from any parishes, the Diocesan Development Fund or the Capital Endowment Campaign, according to the letter. The review by the local Catholics was launched less than two weeks after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a scathing report that named 301 priests in connection with "widespread sexual abuse," the York (Pa.) Daily Record reported. Rice has been leading the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau since April 2016. "It is my hope that this letter assures you and reinvigorates your confidence in our beloved local Church," Rice wrote in his letter. "Please, let us continue to hold one another in prayer." David Clohessy with Missouri's Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called the bishop's letter "woefully lacking." "We still don't believe that Rice's list is thorough," Clohessy said. "Not enough names. Not enough details." Clohessy said SNAP would like the diocese to provide more information about the accused priests, like their photos, their whereabouts and their complete work histories. "The more information we have about those who commit and conceal child sex crimes, the safer our families will be," Clohessy said. Leslie Eidson, director of communications for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, said the complete work histories for the accused diocesan priests will be published in the diocese's newspaper on Monday. She said photos and information about work histories for the religious order priests would be difficult for the diocese to obtain since those priests weren't under the authority of the bishop. Clohessy also questioned how long church leaders have known about these allegations before publicly identifying the list of priests this week. "I suspect the real answer is years or even decades," Clohessy said. Eidson said the diocese has been maintaining a list of accused diocesan priests on its website for at least the last two years, and officials learned of the allegations concerning religious order priests who worked in the area through the course of this recent review. "We want to assure our people that there is no systematic coverup here," Eidson said. Clohessy encouraged victims of clergy sexual abuse to first reach out to "independent sources of help" like police, prosecutors, therapists or support groups. The bishop's letter says victims can report abuse through the TIPS function on the diocese's website, dioscg.org. Here is the list of accused priests in Rice's letter: John Brath (Webb City), Leonard Chambers (Lebanon), Walter Craig (New Madrid), Eugene Deragowski (Conway and West Plains), William Donovan (Glennonville), Wally Ellinger (Caruthersville), Mark Ernstmann (Springfield), Larry Gregovich (New Madrid), Fred Lutz (Cape Girardeau), Paul McHugh (Branson), John Rynish (Springfield), Stephen Schneider (Joplin), Amel Shibley (Sikeston), John Wells (New Madrid), Louis Wyrsch (Poplar Bluff), Ernest Marquart (Caruthersville), Stephen Juda (Salem), Thomas Gregory Meyer (Carthage), Thomas Parrott (Cape Girardeau), Edgar Probstfield (Springfield), Mark Santo (Ironton), Emil Twardochleb (Carthage), Bernard Vedder (Carthage), Wayne Barron, Damian Boeding, Michael Charland, John Farris, J. Vincent Fitzgerald, Richard Lause, Orville Munie, William Paiz, John Ruhl, Daniel Schulte, Francis Zimmerer, John Turnbull, Henry Willenborg, John Baskett, Thomas J. O'Brien and John Wieberg.
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