Former St. Louis Area Priest Sues over Inclusion on List of Alleged Abusers

Associated Press via Alton Telegraph
December 5, 2019

https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Former-St-Louis-area-priest-sues-over-inclusion-14885099.php

A former priest has sued the Archdiocese of St. Louis, alleging it libeled and slandered him by including him on a list of clerics credibly accused of abusing children.

Michael Toohey, 77, of Creve Coeur, claims in the lawsuit filed last month in St. Louis County Circuit Court that the archdiocese intentionally damaged his reputation, refused to provide more details of any allegation against him and denied his challenge of the claim, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

At issue is a list the archdiocese released this summer that included the names of 63 men with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Twenty-six of those men, including Toohey, had never been named publicly as facing such allegations.

In an interview with the Post-Dispatch in September, Toohey denied sexually abusing anyone and said the archdiocese never told him he had been accused of sex abuse of a minor until the list was released. He said he and an attorney met with the archdiocese after the list was released but that church officials refused to discuss information about his case.

Toohey, who served as a priest at three St. Louis-area parishes from 1967 until 1970, has said that he left left the priesthood of his own volition in 1970 because he felt the church had become too permissive on issues including contraception and divorce. He later worked for trade groups in St. Louis, including the Home Builders Association of St. Louis, and in Georgia.