DES MOINES (IA)
KWIT Radio
February 27, 2019
By Mary Hartnett
The Catholic Diocese of Sioux City releases a list of priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. However, some victims of abuse by Catholic priests say it may be too little, too late.
Also, as we celebrate Mardi Gras, a look at the 300-year history of New Orleans.
That and more coming up on The Exchange, Wednesday at noon and Friday at 9:00 at SPM>
This is The Exchange on SPM; I’m Mary Hartnett. This week was a major turning point for the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Francis ended a Vatican meeting on clerical sexual abuse by calling “for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors” and insisting that the church needed to protect children “from ravenous wolves.”
Despite the Pope’s vow “to combat this evil that strikes at the very heart of our mission,” many critics say the speech was short on the sort of detailed battle plan demanded by many Catholics around the world. Pope Francis had barely finished speaking before some abuse victims, and other frustrated faithful began expressing outrage and disappointment at his failure to outline immediate and concrete steps to address the problem.
The Diocese of Sioux City named 28 priests who have been “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors from 1948 to 1995. Most of those priests are now deceased. A diocesan board reviewed all allegations of sexual abuse of minors, and Bishop Nicklaus accepted all recommendations. At a press conference today Bishop R. Walker Nicklaus added that no one on the list was allowed to work with young people and their names have been submitted to the authorities, although they have not necessarily been charged or convicted in a criminal case. “Accusations of sexual abuse deemed to be within the realm of possibility, the. Most expansive definitions used by any diocese were included.
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