MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
In a first-ever lawsuit, an abuse victim is suing a St. Louis-based Catholic religious order for deceiving and misleading him as he reported child sexual abuse and sought to warn others about crimes and cover ups at a prominent West County school.
Almost always, child sex abuse victims sue for the abuse and cover up. Rarely, if ever, do they sue for how they’re treated by church officials once they report the abuse. That’s what Chris Wimmer is doing and we commend him for his courage. He suit points out that Catholic officials were deceitful in the past and still are today.
Wimmer was molested by Brother Louis Meinhardt and Brother John Woulfe, both Marianists, at Chaminade. He’s suing Marianist officials, however, not for the abuse but for how they’ve “misled” him in recent years since he reported the abuse.
The suit also charges that Marianists officials have told several victims that they are the first person to ever report abuse against a specific perpetrator while knowing that’s not true, hoping “to prevent lawsuits like this one.”
(One example involves Bryan Bacon 314 566 8386 who was abused as a boy at Vianney.)
The order, the Marianists, run three St. Louis area Catholic high schools: Vianney, Chaminade and St. Mary’s. It’s national headquarters is at 4425 W. Pine (near corner of Newstead) in the city’s CWE.
We are grateful to Wimmer for exposing Brother Meinhardt and Brother Woulfe and Catholic officials, at Chaminade and elsewhere who continue to manipulate already-wounded and still-suffering victims.
How bad are the Marianists?
–A 2014 investigative report by a Pittsburgh newspaper shows 157 adults have accused 31 members of the Marianists of child sexual abuse. Eight of the alleged offenders worked in St. Louis.
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