Two bishops on Mo. diocese’s list of substantiated clergy abusers

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic News Service

Sept. 9, 2019

The names of two bishops appear on a list of clergy with “substantiated abuse of minors allegations” from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph released Sept. 6.

The bishops are retired Bishop Joseph H. Hart of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and now-deceased Bishop Joseph V. Sullivan of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

According to the list assembled by the diocese, which dates back to its founding in 1956, the abuse claims for each bishop took place within the Missouri diocese’s territory. Each bishop also had more than one abuse allegation reported.

A forthcoming Vatican trial was announced in June on charges against Hart of abuse allegations in the Cheyenne Diocese, where he served as bishop from 1978 to 2001, and as auxiliary bishop from 1976 to 1978. Hart has maintained his innocence once the Wyoming allegations surfaced.

Hart, ordained a priest in 1956, had been accused of three instances of abuse dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s in Missouri. In 2008, the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese announced a $10 million settlement with 47 victims of sexual abuse by 12 clergy and former clergy of the diocese. Attorneys for the victims said the group included Hart, although the diocese, then headed by Bishop Robert W. Finn, did not disclose any of the clerics’ names. A second financial settlement was reached by the diocese in 2014.

Sullivan, born in 1919, died in 1982 after serving eight years as bishop of Baton Rouge.

The Kansas City-St. Joseph list includes the names of 19 diocesan priests — all but six of whom are now dead — with substantiated allegations. A 20th priest was on a separate list with Hart and Sullivan because, like them, he had been incardinated for service in another diocese after the incidents of abuse are alleged to have occurred.

A third list carries the names of two religious-order priests who were accused of abuse during their time serving in Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Of those priests still living, they are either permanently removed from ministry or laicized. One is in federal prison. With the exception of the ex-priest now in prison, all abuse incidents took place before 1990.

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