EVANSVILLE, IN (IN)
WFIE TV
February 22, 2019
By Kate O’Rourke
The list is not just the names. It also includes more details about the allegations and timelines for which churches and in which schools these priests worked.
From this list we were able to do more of our own research and piece together a better narrative surrounding the priests’ allegations. Among the accused is Mark Kurzendoerfer.
He admitted to two of four credible allegations. The first dates back to the year he was ordained.
He was accused of an improper physical relationship with a 14-year-old boy. On Thursday, we sat down exclusively with priest abuse survivor Ken Meyer.
While he was abused as a teenager in St. Louis, he and his family were long-time parishioners at Holy Angles Church in New Harmony. Kurzendoerfer was their priest for nine years.
He noted that many of these names have been brought to the public since 2002.
“And I know that the committee that’s looking at the credibility of the accusations is working hard on trying to come up with a list of people who have been credibly accused. And that word credibly is really important. To come up with an accusation is easy but to have some credibility takes some effort,” says Meyer.
The Diocesan Review Board is made up of six parishioners and one priest. We have tried contacting them in the past but did not get any comment.
Again today after we got the list we reached out to each board member and have not heard back. Meyer has also encountered more than a handful of other priests who turned out to be alleged abusers.
Some of them are on this list. He says he and his family did not know about it until years later.
“Some of these priests that we’ve read about over the years of being credibly accused I’ve worked with, I’m friends with, and it’s a difficult subject,” says Meyer.
Meyer recognizes five priests on the list. He is traveled with John Breidenbach and Wilfred Englert.
Breidenbach admitted to one credible allegation. Englert was convicted of sexual battery and served a prison sentence. Meyer knew Richard Wildeman through Boy Scouts years ago. Wildeman admitted to his one credible allegation.
Meyer was at a mass in New Harmony five years ago held by Jean Vogler. Even though nearly twenty years earlier, Vogler pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography, he was still in public ministry until Tuesday.
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