ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • The Roman Catholic Church was rocked by the clergy sex scandal in the United States more than a decade ago.
Church officials have been forced to acknowledge they moved known abusive priests from parish to parish, enabling them to claim even more victims. Tears have been shed and millions of dollars in settlements spent, along with vows that necessary reforms are in place to protect children.
And so over this Easter weekend in St. Louis, members of the region’s many Catholic parishes could be excused if they expressed both concern and fatigue as they faced news of the latest allegation of abuse by a young priest.
On Good Friday, criminal charges were brought against the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, 31, said to be a close friend of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, over allegations that Jiang sexually abused a young boy. The molestation is alleged to have taken place on two separate occasions at St. Louis the King School, the elementary school at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.
Police said the unnamed boy told detectives and a forensic interviewer that sometime between July 1, 2011, and August 1, 2012, Jiang molested him in the school’s bathroom. The archdiocese has suspended the priest from his duties while the case is investigated.
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