KANSAS CITY (KS)
Kansas City Star [Kansas City MO]
July 13, 2026
By Judy L. Thomas
A yearslong investigation into sexual abuse allegations involving a traditionalist Catholic group with a large following in a northeast Kansas town has wrapped up, according to the state’s top law enforcement agency.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has sent its findings in the Society of St. Pius X case to the Attorney General’s Office, said KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood.
“The SSPX investigations have concluded,” Underwood told The Star in an email. “We are awaiting charging decisions from the prosecutor.”
James Vogel, director of communications for the U.S. District of the Society of St. Pius X, did not respond to a request for comment on the investigation. The group’s U.S. headquarters is in Platte City, Missouri.
The update on the investigation comes as the Society of St. Pius X — a fraternity of priests that celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and rejects the modernist reforms of the Second Vatican Council — has been making international headlines over an unrelated issue.
On July 2, the Vatican decreed the excommunication of the SSPX’s bishops and priests, one day after the group consecrated four new bishops in Switzerland without the pope’s consent.
The Vatican then went a step further and warned that others who “formally adhere” to the group would also face excommunication, the harshest punishment under church law.
The Society of St. Pius X has a significant presence in St. Marys, Kansas, a town of about 2,800 roughly 90 miles west of Kansas City. For nearly half a century, the SSPX has made its home there, establishing St. Mary’s Academy and College, which comprises a K-12 school and a four-year private college.
Followers come from across the country to raise their children according to traditional Catholic values. Michael Goldade, one of the new bishops the Vatican excommunicated, grew up there.
In recent years, with attendance at Latin Mass topping 4,000, the SSPX built a 1,500-seat, $42 million church high on its campus overlooking the tranquil town. The Immaculata opened in 2023 and is the largest SSPX church in the world.
KBI launches investigation
In February 2019, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced it was looking into reports of sexual abuse by clergy in the state’s four Roman Catholic dioceses. The investigation later expanded to include the SSPX.
Several people told The Star in 2020 that they had contacted the KBI to report sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior by SSPX priests and employees, as well as a cover-up by the leaders. Others said agents working on the investigation had contacted them in recent months.
In a May 2020 statement, the SSPX acknowledged that some priests may have committed misdeeds but denied covering up any sexual abuse.
The Kansas attorney general issued a report in January 2023, saying it had identified 188 clergy members in the state’s four dioceses who were suspected of committing criminal acts, including aggravated criminal sodomy, rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated sexual battery.
The report said the KBI would continue to investigate criminal allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members associated with the Society of St. Pius X.
The SSPX investigation has been ongoing ever since.
Pottawatomie County Attorney John Washburn told The Star on Friday that his office is not involved in the decision on whether charges will be filed.
“This investigation is being handled by the KBI and then prosecution determination is with the attorney general’s office,” he said in an email.
“I have had no dealings with it because of the attorney general’s involvement.”
In May 2020, Washburn’s predecessor told The Star that the SSPX had provided documents to the KBI.
“They are working with my office and the KBI to produce the requested documents,” then-County Attorney Sherri Schuck said in an email, “and I anticipate they will continue to work with us during the course of the investigation.”
‘Possible errors of judgment and some blunders’
In its 2020 statement, the Society of St. Pius X said abusers must be held accountable.
“We remain ready to show that, despite possible errors of judgment and some blunders, which we can only regret, our first concern is for the victims, and we take the smallest credible allegation seriously,” said the statement, issued by the SSPX headquarters in Switzerland.
“That said, it is an insult to impute to us the deliberate intention to cover up morally reprehensible acts, just as it is shameful for us if one of our members or employees betrays the trust of the faithful and sullies the priesthood and our mission of sanctifying souls.”
The Society said at the time that it was committed to protecting children and all vulnerable people.
“The SSPX recognizes that all persons who have suffered sexual abuse must be heard and helped, and that the wrong that has been done to them must be repaired in some way,” it said.
“The abusers must be held responsible before the civil authorities; if they are members of the clergy, they must give an account of their acts before a Church tribunal, in keeping with canon law.”