Clergy abuse victims fighting to extend statute of limitations in Iowa

DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

May 25, 2019

By Shelby Fleig

Two years after The Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winningseries in 2002 that uncovered decades of abuse and cover-ups in New England parishes, Iowan John Chambers, 66, regained long-repressed memories of being sexually abused as a sophomore at Dowling High School.

Chambers, a lifelong Des Moines resident, had been in and out of therapy for decades by that point battling crippling depression. His deteriorating mental health led to substance abuse and withered his relationships, he said.

He was 52 when he remembered instances of fondling and indecent exposure by the Rev. Leonard Kenkel, in 1966 and 1967. According to Child USA, a nonprofit think-tank that studies child abuse, 52 is the average age that adults who were victims of child sex abuse first disclose their experiences.

Chambers sued the Diocese of Des Moines and Kenkel in 2004.

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