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  Priest Resigns Amid Sex Allegations

Associated Press
October 31, 1997

Three sisters have accused their former priest of seducing them as girls, including one who said she went to him for counseling after losing her virginity.

The Rev. David McCreanor, pastor of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church, resigned his post and entered a church-run treatment center Thursday after the women went public with their accusations, the diocese said Friday.

"He has resigned, but he has not admitted wrongdoing," the Rev. Michael Mooney said. "The bishop has placed him on a leave of absence from all functions as a priest."

The accusations were made public the same week that a priest admitted sexually abusing four teen-age boys while serving in Florida several years ago.

The Rev. Rick Castillo, 43, enrolled himself last spring in the same treatment center where McCreanor is also seeking help.

McCreanor's accusers informed the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee of their charges 14 months ago. They said they decided to go public because nothing was being done.

"Until this week, it did not appear anything was going to happen," said Mary Jane Vossler, the mother of the sisters. "It bothers me how the church bureaucracy works."

One of the women, Veronica Bevans, 33, said she sought counseling from McCreanor after she lost her virginity, only to have the priest take her to his bedroom, undress her and have sex with her.

Her sister, Betsy Stone of Charlotte, N.C., said she was propositioned by McCreanor a few years later when she sought counseling. She said she immediately told her mother, who thought she was imagining things.

The third sister, 27-year-old Gretchen Vossler, was 15 at the time, she said.

"I was raised not to question what a priest said to you or did to you," she said.

 
 

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