MISSOURI
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Michael S. McGrath was a St. Louis archdiocesan priest, ordained in 1975. He assisted in parishes in Florissant, Wentzville, Overland, Concord Village, Pagedale and Bridgeton. For a short while he was the lead priest in Jennings. McGrath also taught in several parish schools and at DuBourg High School.
In 1993 McGrath was placed on leave and sent for treatment for a year after the archdiocese received an allegation that, while he was a seminarian in 1973-1974, McGrath fondled a boy. He was returned to active ministry. In 1997 he was suspended again after a concerned priest reported that McGrath had taken a group of boys on a trip to New Orleans. The archdiocesan review board recommended the suspension, saying that McGrath was not using “common sense.” McGrath found work driving buses for the city and for Greyhound.
In June 2003 a wrongful death suit was filed by the parents of a man who had recently committed suicide; the parents said McGrath sexually abused their son in the 1980s, beginning when the boy was a fourth-grader. The suicide occurred just after the man learned that the statute of limitations prevented him from filing criminal charges against the priest. This was the first of at least 21 lawsuits by people claiming abuse as children by McGrath. McGrath’s modus operandi was reportedly to take children on outings in his van, such as getting ice-cream or attending baseball games. There were also overnight trips. He typically would allow children to help drive the van while they sat in or near his lap. Most allegations were of fondling; at least one was of forced oral copulation. McGrath’s alleged victims were boys and girls. Two former female students of DuBourg High School separately reported that McGrath fondled them while they were sleeping during a trip in his van.
McGrath was laicized in 2005.
Ordained: 1975
Laicized: 2005
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