GREEN TOWNSHIP (OH)
WCPO TV
July 30, 2019
There is no evidence the Rev. Geoff Drew is guilty of criminal wrongdoing, according to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. But some parishioners who attended a crowded Monday night meeting meant to address the St. Ignatius priest’s suspension left uneasy.
They said they still did not know exactly what Drew had been accused of doing.
“They gave us very little details,” said Mike Hausfeld, whose son attends eighth grade at St. Ignatius of Loyola School. “The questions we asked, it was shoved off, pushed off to the side, turned into another, ‘That’s not our decision. We can’t make that decision. It’s not our call.’”
Reporters were not allowed inside the meeting. According to Hausfeld, Archdiocese of Cincinnati leaders disclosed only that the allegations against Drew involved inappropriate texts exchanged with a male student at the school.
That explanation matched the archdiocese’s official statement to press earlier in the day: That Drew had been accused of behavior “contrary to the (archdiocese) Decree On Child Protection.”
Archdiocese officials at the meeting also said Drew had been under monitoring after “some concerns” surfaced during his time in Liberty Township’s St. Maximilian Kolbe parish, according to Hausfeld. They did not share whether those concerns had been related to his relocation to St. Ignatius.
They also did not share what would happen to Drew when his suspension and the accompanying investigation were finished. Hausfeld said they promised they were “making changes” but didn’t specify.
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