IOWA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque – The Witness
Sexual abuse occurred
over 35 years ago
For The Witness
DUBUQUE — Following mediation, the Archdiocese of Dubuque announces that it has completed structured settlement agreements with several persons who reported that they were sexually abused as minors by priests of the archdiocese.
Twenty-six individuals retained the services of a Waterloo law firm to present their cases. All of the abuse, according to the claims, took place more than 35 years ago. Most occurred in the 1950s and 1960s.
Of the 10 priests named by the claimants, nine had been named previously and were already included on the “Table of Accused Priests” found on the Archdiocesan Web site. Priests accused of sexual abuse of minors and named in this mediation are the following: the Reverends John T. Reed (deceased 1996), Joseph Patnode (deceased 1977), Patrick McElliott (deceased 1987), William Schwartz (removed from the priesthood in 2005), Louis Wunder (deceased 1990), Louis Wendling
(deceased 1969), Peter Graff (deceased 1976), Robert Reiss (removed from the priesthood in 1997, deceased 2005), Allen Schmitt (removed from ministry 2002), and Robert Swift (deceased 1980).
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