JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
KOMU 8 [Columbus, MO]
September 19, 2024
By Leor Shomroni
[Photo above: David Clohessy, Director of Missouri SNAP, writes the names of accused priests who worked in the Diocese of Jefferson City on the sidewalk in front of Immaculate Conception Church in Jefferson City MO on January 19, 2024.]
The Diocese of Jefferson City has responded to a recent lawsuit accusing Jefferson City-area Catholic priests of child sexual abuse.
Five Missouri adults filed a civil lawsuit Sept. 12 accusing multiple priests of sexual abuse. Four of the adults were allegedly abused as children and one claimed to have been abused as an adult.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court against the diocese and Bishop Shawn McKnight, accusing them of covering up reported abuse.
“For many decades, the Diocese has known of the sexual abuse perpetrated upon its young parishioners, children and vulnerable adults in the community by several of its employees,” the lawsuit states.
On Thursday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) sent a letter to Bishop Shawn McKnight of the Jefferson City Diocese, urging him to reveal more information about the priests accused of sexual abuse. In a statement released Wednesday, SNAP claimed the diocese “won’t tell the public if any of the alleged child molesters are alive, nor where any proven, admitted or ‘credibly accused’ abusive clerics are or were.”
KOMU 8 received a statement from Bishop McKnight of the Jefferson City Diocese on Thursday addressing the lawsuit, stating that the diocese is “treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and investigating the allegations.”
In the statement, McKnight said that “none of the five priests named in the lawsuit are currently active in ministry in the Diocese of Jefferson City.”
The lawsuit named multiple priests accused of abuse, including Fathers Thomas Duggan, Francis Gillgannon and Gerald Howard (formerly Carmin Sita). Both SNAP and the Jefferson City Diocese said that all three are now deceased.
It also named two accused priests, Father David Darr and “Father Dave.” McKnight’s statement said there is no record of Darr ever having served in the diocese. They are currently working to identify “Father Dave,” and stated that “this allegation does not refer to any priest named ‘David’ currently serving in our diocese.”
SNAP held a news conference outside Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where one of the cases of alleged abuse occurred, to address the recent lawsuit and a week of silence by the diocese that followed.
David Clohessy, former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), discussed the lawsuit and wrote the names of multiple accused Catholic priests on the sidewalk outside the church.
“We not only want Bishop McKnight to be honest about these four or five newly accused priests; we want him to be honest about every single child-molesting cleric, priest, nun, brother, bishop, monk, seminarian,” Clohessy said. “We want him to be honest about every single church employee who has sexually violated kids and especially to say where they worked.”