IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on April 10, 2013
An Iowa Catholic archbishop has announced his resignation “for health reasons” just two weeks prior to his scheduled deposition in a clergy sex abuse and cover up case.
He’s Jerome Hanus who has headed the Archdiocese of Dubuque, IA and will soon live again in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
From 1977 to 1987, Jerome Hanus was abbot at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO (Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph). In a videotaped interview and a signed confession from 2011, Bede Parry admitted that Abbot Jerome Hanus knew about Parry’s previous sexual misconduct yet still placed Parry in a position of authority with the Conception Abbey Boy Choir where Parry reoffended with at least five choir participants.
With this resignation, Hanus has become to first high-ranking church official to step down during Pope Francis’ new regime.
“It’s extremely rare for a standing Archbishop to be desposed, and even moreso when that official has been named as an enabler by a predator priest himself,” said said David Clohessy, SNAP Director. “The consequences from this deposition could be huge.”
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