KC-St. Joseph Diocese hires ex-FBI agents to compile list of credibly accused priests

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

April 12, 2019

By Judy L. Thomas

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has hired an investigative and consulting firm run by three former FBI agents to compile a list of priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.

The St.-Louis based firm, Fidelity Consultants, comprises three investigators who each spent more than two decades with the Federal Bureau of Investigation before founding the company, Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. announced this week in The Catholic Key, the diocesan newspaper.

The action comes after many other dioceses across the country — including the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas — have released lists in recent months of priests with substantiated abuse allegations.

“It is my desire to do so as well,” Johnston wrote in his column in The Catholic Key this week. “This process, by its very nature, is painstakingly deliberate. I intend for an eventual report to be thorough, accurate, and as complete as possible.

“Like most other dioceses, the review is being accomplished by a highly respected and independent third party. It is my hope that our review will be complete and a list available in the coming months.”

The diocese said the firm would conduct “a thorough review of diocesan files” then write a report that includes the names of priests who have served in the diocese and have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The priest sex abuse issue erupted last August when a grand jury in Pennsylvania released a report finding that church leaders had covered up sexual abuse by hundreds of priests over seven decades. Since then, bishops across the country have been under pressure to release the names of their credibly accused priests.

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