ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 24, 2019

Catholic officials are keeping kids at risk by dragging their feet with a bishop who has multiple “substantiated” allegations of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Joseph Hart is accused of molesting at least ten Missouri boys, and he has allegations from at least six boys in Wyoming. Yet bishops in Kansas City, Cheyenne and Rome are moving at a snail’s pace to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

Kansas City church officials are reportedly putting any diocesan effort “on hold until the process in Rome finishes.” But no matter what happens in Rome, cases have already been settled against Bishop Hart here, and the last diocese he worked in has publicly named him among those clergy with “substantiated” allegations of abuse. Given this, there is nothing preventing Bishop James Vann Johnston, Jr. from warning parents, parishioners,…