ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 16, 2013
For more information: David Clohessy (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Barbara Dorris (314) 862-7688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com
Files released on two predator priests
Each abused in CA but spent time in MO
They’re with a St. Louis-based religious order
Victims blast MO Catholic officials for “continued secrecy”
SNAP to prelates: “Reach out to others who may be in pain”
More than 200 pages of records about two predator priests who worked in Missouri have just been released. In response, a support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging three Missouri bishops to “reach out” to others who may have been molested by them.
One priest worked primarily in eastern Missouri, most recently in the 1980s at St. Gabriel’s in St. Louis city. The other priest worked at a college and a parish in Cape Girardeau (then a part of the St. Louis archdiocese).
Both Fr. John Edward Ruhl and Fr. John V. “Jack” Farris belonged to the St. Louis-based western region of the Vincentians but spent much of their careers in California, where child sex abuse suits were filed against them. Both also spent time at the now-closed St. Mary’s seminary in Perryville in the 1960s. More than 120 pages of records about both men were disclosed last week and are posted here: http://www.lorpb.com/September-Release.aspx
Fr. Farris is a Kansas City native who went to St. John’s seminary in Kansas City and was ordained in 1949 by then St. Louis Auxiliary Bishop Charles Helmsing. Fr. Farris was primarily assigned to eight or nine St. Louis area church facilities from 1958-1999, with one year at the Evangelical Center in Cape Girardeau in 1985-1986. (See page 44 of the records for more details.)
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