ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Lous Post-Dispatch
By Harry Levins Special to the Post-Dispatch
Carol A. Kuhnert of Union grew up in south St. Louis alongside an older brother and sister. In 1961, the brother was ordained as a priest — the Rev. Norman Christian.
In 1987 she learned an awful secret. Her brother was a pedophile. He died in 2004. Now, in “No Longer on Pedestals,” Kuhnert vents her anger — at her brother, of course, but also at her beloved Roman Catholic Church. As she puts it early in her book:
“The Archdiocese of St. Louis had knowledge of my brother’s pedophile behavior long before I became aware of it, yet neither my sister nor I was ever warned he could be a danger to our children. The hierarchy chose to send my brother for treatment, return him to active ministry, and move him from parish to parish, where he could continue to endear himself to unsuspecting families, all of whom were more than happy to entrust their innocent children to him.”
Late in the book, she reflects, “I’m not sure what hurts more: learning my brother was a pedophile priest or knowing the church does not truly care about its flock. It cares only about protecting its reputation, its assets, and covering up what my brother and other predator clergy have. This is definitely not the church I knew and loved from my childhood.
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