Rev. James L. Gummersbach-Assignment

Rev. James L. Gummersbach

Gummersbach was accused in the 1990s of abusing boys in the 1950s-60s. In 1999, a jury awarded a man $1.2M after several other alleged victims testified; the verdict was later reversed by an appeals court, which ruled that the statute of limitations had expired. Laicization announced November 3, 2006. Gummersbach's name was included on the archdiocese's list in July 2019 of those with substantiated allegatiions against them. He died in 2014.

Ordained: 1954
Laicized: 2006
Died: 2014

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1954 St. Louis archbishop was Elmer Joseph Ritter (1946-1967)	1956	St. Patrick's	Rolla	MO	2/2 Gummersbach worked under Msgr. Gerold J. Kaiser.	Parish had a school with 142-213 students.
1956	1959	Immaculate Conception	Union	MO	2/2 Pastor was Rev. Raymond C. Schuermann.	Parish had a school with 196-223 students.
1959	1963	St. Gregory's	St. Ann • Two men testified at a1999 civil trial that Gummersbach sexually abused them at St. Gregory's when they were children. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri] February 24, 1999)	MO	2/3 Pastor 1959-1961 was Rev. Michael O'Keeffe, and third priest was Rev. Joseph H. Blattner. Pastor 1961-1963 was Rev. Joseph J. Richter. Third priest 1962-1963 was Gerald T. Nienhaus, and 1963-1964 third priest was David A. Walter.	St. Gregory's had a school with 1,092-960 students.
1963 John Joseph Carberry was Archbishop (1968-1979)	1968	Immaculate Conception Blessed Virgin Mary	St. Louis • Accused in the 1990s of sexually abusing boys at this parish in the 1960s. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri] February 23, 1999).	MO	3/4,2/3 Pastor was Msgr. James P. Johnston. Second priest 1963-1965 was John J. Leibrecht, Ph.D. Last priest 1963-1966 was David A. Walter. From 1966-1968 Gummersbach was second priest, third was Rev. Paul J. Butler.	Parish haad a school with 359-276 students.
1968	1972	Church of the Annunziata	Ladue • Accused in 1994 of abusing a 15-year-old boy at this parish beginning in 1968. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri] June 10, 1994)	MO	2/2 Gummersbach worked under Msgr. James R. Hartnett.	Parish had a school with 165-202 students.
1972	1974	St. Joseph Hospital	Kirkwood	MO	Chaplain	Indexed as at St. Joseph's in Kirkwood in Directory, but not listed there.
1972	1979	St. Joseph Hospital	St. Charles	MO	Chaplain
1979 Archbishop was John Lawrence May (1980-1992)	1981	Immaculate Conception	Flat River	MO	1/1
1979	1981	St. John's	Bismarck	MO		St. John's was a mission of Immaculate Conception.
1981	1987	St. Rose of Lima	St. Louis	MO	3/3,2/2 In 1981-1982 Gummersbach was third priest after Revs. James Marshall and James M. Moll. Moll was pastor 1982-1987 with Gummersbach as assistant.
1981	1982	St. Louis Children's Hospital	St. Louis	MO		This assignment is per news report. (Associated Press, carried in My Fox November 3, 2006)
1982	1987	Deaconess Hospital	St. Louis	MO	Chaplain
1987	1989	?	?	?		Gummersbach is not indexed in the 1988 or 1989 Directories, and is not listed at his previous assignments.
1989 Replacing Carberry as Archbishop was Justin Francis Rigali (1994-2003)	1994	St. Agnes	St. Louis	MO	2/2 In residence. Pastor was Rev. George F. Mayer.
1993	1994	Little Flower, St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus	Richmond Heights	MO	3/3 Revs. James J. Benz; Philip G. Krahman; James L. Gummersbach.	Parish had a school with 216 students.
1993	1994	Deaconess Hospital	St. Louis • Placed on leave in April 1994 due to allegations of having sexually abused a boy in the late 1960's. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri] June 10, 1994)	MO	Chaplain	Does not appear in Directories after 1994. Gummersbach was laicized in 2006. (St. Louis Review November 3, 2006) He died in 2014. (Archdiocese of St. Louis, July 26, 2019.)

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1955-1994).

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy & Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.