11 Accused in this Diocese
- Links to Earlier Articles Prior to 04.04.06
- KSDK 05.06.10
- Lawrence Journal-World 06.23.10
- Lawrence Journal-World 06.23.10
- SNAP Statement 12.06.12
- SNAP Statement re Death 09.05.14
- Wichita Eagle 09.05.14
- SNAP Statement 09.08.14
- American Conservative 09.08.14
- KSNW TV 08.22.19
- Diocese of Wichita List 09.20.19
- CNS News 12.19.19
- KCUR 01.10.23
- BishopAccountability.org 05.24.27
Fr. Alonzo R. Smithhisler
Named publicly as accused on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations against them of child sexual abuse. It notes "ministry ended" in 1991 and that Smithhisler was permanently removed from ministry. Died 9/20/2019.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Charles A. O’Connor
Named publicly as accused on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations against them of child sexual abuse. It notes "ministry ended" in 1993. Permanently removed from ministry.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Charles F. Walsh
Monsignor. Named publicly as accused on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations against them of child sexual abuse. Retired in 1998. Died in 2008.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Daniel B. Mulvihill
From Ireland. Ordained for the Diocese of Wichita. Named in a 1996 civil suit filed by four brothers. The men said that they were abused at St. Joseph's Children Home in KS and that they believed that another priest (Mulvihill) had molested their sister and that she had borne the priest's child. They say they found her diary after her death with a picture of her and the priest with a baby boy. The Diocese investigated and said that Mulvihill denied that he was the father of the child, and that the diary was the dreaming of a lonely young woman about a kid and handsome priest. Mulvihill died 12/16/2006.
Fr. Michael Schemm
On 11/1/2021 the diocese announced that Schemm was being placed on leave pending an investigation into allegations that he had sexually abused a minor more than 25 years previously. Schemm was pastor at the time of his suspension of Church of the Resurrection in Bel Aire. He allegedly sexually abused a child, ages 12-15, 1992-1995, while assigned to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Wichita. No criminal charges due to the statute of limitations. The diocese's review board determined that there was "insufficient evidence." The bishop stated that Schemm would be returned to public ministry. In 10/2023 the diocesan newspaper noted that Schemm had been placed on "indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons, effective immediately." Died 12/14/2024.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Paul R. Alderman
Named publicly as accused on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations. It notes that Alderman's ministry ended in 1990 and that he was permanently removed from ministry.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Peter J. Duke
Named publicly as accused on the Diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations. Parish priest, assigned 1974-1984 to Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School. Per the list, Duke's ministry ended in 1987. Died in 1990.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. Robert D. Blanpied
Ordained for the Diocese of Wichita. Incardinated in 1969 into the Diocese of Pueblo. Lawsuit in 1995 by a man claiming Blanpied abused him at ages 10-13 in Wichita; dismissed due to the statute of limitations. In a 1994 meeting with the Pueblo bishop, the man, and the man's family, Blanpied admitted improper touch 30 years prior, and to abuse of two other Wichita boys in about 1967-1969. Removed in 1994. Sent to treatment. Moved to Utah, Salt Lake bishop was warned not to give him faculties. Honored in 1998 for 50 years priesthood. Released from treatment in 1999; granted faculties by the Salt Lake bishop. Removed in 2002 after the Dallas Bishops' conference. Died 10/5/2003. Included on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations. Referred to as "Fr. H." in the CO Attorney General's report 10/22/2019.
Fr. Robert K. Larson
Former Director of Catholic Charities. Removed/retired from active ministry in 1988 for "stress-related problems." Accused of abusing more than 17 boys. Pleaded guilty in 2001 to abusing 4, including 1 felony count. Sentenced to 3-10 years prison; 5 others, whom Larson denied abusing, later died by suicide. Abuse included sodomy. Moved to St. John Vianney Renewal Center in MO after 3/2006 release from prison. Listed on MO sex offender registry. Died 08/27/2014; death not announced until 9/2014, after his burial. On the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations.
Assignments:
Sources:
Fr. William A. Wheeler
From Ireland. Worked in the Diocese of Galloway, Scotland until 1940, as a chaplain for the British Army in WWII, later moving to Canada. Arrived in the U.S. in 1955. In a 1996 civil suit, two men alleged that they were fondled by Wheeler several times in the mid-1950s at an El Dorado children's home. (Same suit alleges that another brother was molested by a nun and that a second priest fathered a child with their sister.) The suit was dismissed due to the statute of limitations. Wheeler died in 1994. Name included on the diocese's 9/20/2019 list of clerics with substantiated allegations. It notes that Wheeler's ministry ended in 1985. Also publicly accused in 2/2020 of raping a girl who was a grade school student at Holy Cross in Hutchinson in the 1960s. His accuser said she had first been raped by a priest who preceded Wheeler at the parish.
Assignments:
Sources:
Sr. Agnesina Metzinger
Accused in a 1996 civil suit of repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy who was a resident of St. Joseph's Home. The same suit alleges several of the boy's siblings were abused by priests at the home. Metzinger died 6/18/1978.