TEXAS
Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush
It’s difficult still to go back and read the stories about the pedophile Rudy Kos, who damaged so deeply young boys when he was serving as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
I’m reminded by Dan Michalski’s 1998 story in D Magazine about just how many red flags were ignored so that Kos could be enrolled in Irving’s Holy Trinity Seminary – a place that, in that time, had turned away from the strict sexual discipline that is part and parcel of Roman Catholic priesthood.
Kos went to Holy Trinity long before Charles Grahmann became bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
But Grahmann was in charge when the Kos scandal broke. He never read a file full of warnings on Kos and let the pedophile run a parish until 1992 despite continued warning of abuse. One of Kos’ victims, Jay Lemberger, committed suicide at age 20.
Then there was the case of Rev. Justin Lucio, who was removed from parish leadership after two young men said he pressured them into sex with promises of immigration help and threats he would turn them into the authorities.
Grahmann nevertheless had Lucio run a ministry for immigrants without oversight.
Grahmann didn’t resign until 2007, when he turned 75.
Thankfully, his successor, Bishop Kevin Farrell, understood the enormous threat pedophile priests pose, first to young people’s innocence and psychological health, but also to the faith and confidence of all Catholics.
Bishop Farrell has worked to make the diocese much more responsive to accusations of abuse, both in policy and practice.
But the entire Church needed more leadership on this critical problem.
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