Diocese of Des Moines IA

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Terry McKiernan February 26, 2021

13 Accused in This Diocese

Fr. Damian G. Boeding

Order: OSB
Ordained: 1952
Status: Accused

Died: 09/29/2003
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Named publicly as accused by the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese on its list updated 4/1/2019. It notes incidents 1964-1968 in IA and MN, reported in 1992 and 1994. Boeding was incardinated into the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese in 1970. He retired in 1988 and died 9/29/2003.

Assignments:

Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau List updated 04.13.21

Sources:

Fr. Paul John Connelly

Ordained: 1950
Status: Accused

Died: 09/27/2007
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Monsignor. Named publicly as accused by the diocese on its list 4/4/2019. One allegation noted of abuse of a female, received in 2006, occurring in about 1964. Died 9/27/2007.

Assignments:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Sources:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Fr. Howard E. Fitzgerald

Ordained: 1978
Status: Accused

Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Removed without privileges from his assignments at Simpson College, St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Indianola and Immaculate Conception in St. Marys 6/30/2014 after the Diocese declared decades-old child sex abuse allegation to be credible. On the diocese's list 4/4/2019, which notes two allegations received of abuse of males in the late 1970s-late 1980s. Laicized.

Assignments:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Sources:

Fr. Robert L. Grant

Ordained: 1984
Status: Accused

Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

"Bud." On 2/27/2020 the Diocese received an allegation of sexual misconduct against Grant involving a minor in the early 1990s. Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs at the time of the alleged 'misconduct.' Bishop Joensen said the allegation had "some semblance of truth." Grant was suspended from ministry on 3/4/2020 pending the Diocese's investigation. The Diocese announced in 12/2020 that Grant would be returned to ministry with restrictions and supervision, "because the complainant was above majority age" at the time of the incident. Per its website, Grant was assigned in 2021 to St. Mary's in Wilton, IA in the Diocese of Davenport.

Sources:

Fr. Phillip Hobt

Ordained: 1992
Status: Accused

Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Placed on leave in 2/2007 after an allegation that he sexually abused a former student at St. Albert School. Law enforcement officials were notified. Hobt began working at the school in 1995. In 4/2007, the Diocese reported that the allegations were credible and that Hobt had begun the process to voluntarily ask the Vatican to be laicized. Laicized in 2007. On the Diocese's list 4/4/2019.

Assignments:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Sources:

Fr. Leonard A. Kenkel

Ordained: 1960
Status: Sued

Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Taught at Dowling Catholic 27 years. Allegation in 2003 of "decades-old" abuse, but insufficient evidence to conclude sex abuse, per diocese in 2018. Accused in 2005 suit of kneading and fondling the buttocks of 15-year-old boy at a diocesan high school, and of exposing himself to the boy while talking about "receiving the Body of Christ." Suit filed after diocesan board determined insufficient evidence. Board recommended Kenkel take "appropriate boundaries" training, which he did. Kept in parish ministry. Retired 2008. Diocesan Website on 8/3/2013 showed him living in West Des Moines; possibly still working as supply priest. Report to diocese 9/6/2018 of child sex abuse by Kenkel decades prior. Reportedly living in 2018 in a nursing facility. Included on the diocese's list 4/4/2019. It notes one substantiated allegation of abuse of a boy, occurring in the early 1980s, and unsubstantiated allegations in 2003 and 2005.

Assignments:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Sources:

Fr. Dennis J. Mangan

Donate Photo

Ordained: 1929
Status: Accused

Died: 06/6/1976
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Named publicly as accused by the diocese on its list 4/4/2019. Two allegations noted of the sexual abuse of females, received in the early 2000s, occurring in the 1960s. Died in 1976.

Assignments:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Sources:

Diocese of Des Moines List 04.04.19

Fr. Paul A. Monahan

Ordained: 1960
Status: Indicted

Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Retired in 2004. Working as St. Albert High School chaplain when arrested at age 83 in 8/2016, charged with invasion of privacy after he was accused of watching five high school boys use the bathroom at a track meet in 4/2016. Suspended from ministry. Monahan had been a teacher, and principal at the school in the 1970s. Assigned also during his career to Dowling Catholic High in West Des Moines, St. Mary in Avoca, St. Patrick in Walnut, Holy Family in Council Bluffs and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Glenwood. Found guilty in 12/2016. Sentenced in 2/2017 to a 30 days suspended jail sentence on each count, to be served concurrently, a year of informal probation and to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Conviction overturned in 5/2018. Was to be removed from offender registry within 20 days if the state did not appeal the reversal of conviction. Suspension lifted in 6/2018.

Sources:

Fr. John R. Ryan

Ordained: 1950
Status: Settled

Died: 11/11/2010
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Removed from ministry in 1993 due to allegations that he molested boys in the 1980s. Previously taught at a diocesan high school. Laicization requested 9/19/2003 and granted 10/13/2006. Diocese settled two complaints as of 11/2006. Died 11/11/2010. Per his obituary, Ryan spent 29 years as a National Guard chaplain. Included on the diocese's list 4/4/2019, with six substantiated allegations of the abuse of boys, occurring in the early 1950s-1980s.

Assignments:

Sources:

Fr. Tan Van Tran

Ordained: 1992
Status: Accused

Died: 12/10/2019
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

From Viet Nam. Arrived in the U.S. and IA in 1989. Ordained for the Diocese of Des Moines in 1992. Accused in 1995 of "patting and hugging" 10 girls in an 8th-grade confirmation class in that year. He was suspended with pay, evaluated, and allowed to return to active ministry. He died 12/10/2019.

Sources:

Fr. Richard G. Wagner

Ordained: 1961
Status: Accused

Died: 07/13/2012
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Removed in 1993 when a mandated reporter learned of alleged abuse of a high school girl in the late 1980s. Sent for treatment and placed in a restricted priory setting. Previously taught at a diocesan High School and had been named principal there by Bishop Dingman. No public allegations until Bishop Charron recommended laicization 9/19/2003. Laicized 10/13/2006. Died in 2012. Included on the diocese's list 4/4/2019.

Assignments:

Des Moines Register 9.20.03

Sources:

Fr. Albert Wilwerding

Ordained: 1956
Status: Settled

Died: 09/26/2004
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Tommie Pierick and his priest uncle told Bishop Dingman in 1978 of abuse by Wilwerding in the late 1960s starting when the boy was age 12. Threats and gifts were used; a farmhouse was a common venue. The Diocese admitted no record of the two complaints. Wilwerding was removed in 1981. Tommie died by suicide in 1985; Wilwerding was sent for treatment again in same year. Tommies's sister went to the Diocese in 1993. She went public in 2002; other victims then surfaced. The Diocese asked for defrocking 9/19/2003. Tommie's brother sued 2/25/2004. Wilwerding died 9/26/2004. A civil suit was filed in 2006; settled in 2007. Included on the Diocese's list 4/4/2019. It notes 25 allegations of the abuse of boys, occurring in the late-1950s to the mid-1980s. On the San Antonio Diocese's list 1/31/2019. Lived in the diocese 1982-1984. Investigated in 1984 by San Antonio police for the sexual assault of an adult male; sent to treatment in NM. Report in 2018 of abuse of a boy in 1983 or 1984.

Assignments:

Sources:

Fr. Francis T. Zuch

Ordained: 1932
Status: Settled

Died: 11/6/1993
Diocese: Diocese of Des Moines IA

Accused in a 12/15/1995 lawsuit of sexually abusing two altar boys 1970-1975. The complaint alleges that Zuch "systematically" abused "numerous" altar boys "starting in the 1940s." Some of the abuse allegedly occurred at a cabin on Clear Lake. The suit was settled by 2002. Zuch was director of Catholic Charities in the diocese 1935-1955. He died in 1993. Included on the diocese's list 4/4/2019, which notes five allegations of abuse of boys in the early- to mid- 1970s.

Documents:

Complaint 12.15.95

Sources:

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