ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Archdiocese of St. Louis must turn over names of accused priests, state supreme court rules
By Jennifer S. Mann jmann@post-dispatch.com 314-621-58041
ST. LOUIS • The Archdiocese of St. Louis must release the names of some 100 priests who have been credibly accused here of sexual abuse of minors, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling, issued by a full panel of judges, is likely the end of the legal battle over the disclosures ordered by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker.
The order is part of a 2011 suit filed on behalf of a then-19-year-old woman, who said she was sexually abused from 1997-2001 by the since-defrocked Rev. Joseph Ross. Her lawyers are trying to show church officials had a pattern of ignoring warning signs and shuffling abusive priests to other parishes, rather than addressing the allegations.
The archdiocese, while fighting further disclosures, released an anonymous matrix of 240 complaints made against 115 church employees. It deemed only 40 of those complaints “unsubstantiated.” Dierker ordered that was not enough and the names must also be turned over to the plaintiff’s lawyers — with the exception of those unsubstantiated cases.
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