Four more accused priests were in KC

Four more accused priests were in KC

One is still working in the church today

Victims want local bishop to ‘out abusive clerics’

They also want non-profit agency re-named

It honors KC bishop who oversaw most abuse

WHEN

Friday, January 18 at 1:00 p.m. 

WHERE 

On the sidewalk outside the KC Catholic headquarters (“chancery office”), 20 West 9th Street (at Baltimore) in downtown Kansas City, MO 

WHO 
Three-four concerned KC area Catholics along with two-three victims of clergy sexual abuse who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests 

WHY 

1__Now-deceased Bishop John J. Sullivan presided over the KC MO diocese longer than any prelate (16 years, from 1977 to1993) including the period in which most clergy sex crimes appear to have been committed (including most of those by KC’s three most prolific predators: Msgr. Thomas J. O’Brien, Msgr. Thomas M. Reardon and Fr. Hugh F. Monahan). 

A non-profit that helps the poor is named after Sullivan – the Bishop Sullivan Center (816 231 0984, [email protected],https://www.bishopsullivan.org/)

SNAP wants the group to change its name because it says “honoring wrongdoers makes already suffering abuse victims suffer more, and that makes them less apt to speak up in the future, thus endangering more kids.” It also “makes witnesses and whistle blowers more apt to stay silent. ‘Why stick my neck out,’ they ask themselves, ‘when even those who are clearly guilty are still held out as model clerics by the church hierarchy?’"

When those who commit or conceal child sex crimes in the church retain their power or prestige, SNAP says the signal Catholic employees get is: "We say we take abuse seriously, but we really don't. We care more about our colleagues and superiors than we do about victims and parishioners."

While the survivors' group recognizes that The Bishop Sullivan Center is a separate entity from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, with a separate board of directors, Catholic officials are not powerless to object to the name. If a non-profit pro-abortion group wanted to call itself "The Bishop James Johnston Center," the diocese would certainly express opposition. If a parish or pastor set up a "Gloria Steinam Scholarship Fund," again, the bishop would holler loudly.

Even if Bishop Johnston does not have direct authority over an institution, he has a powerful bully pulpit and dozens of parish websites. He could publicly and powerfully call on the center and the parish to show some sensitivity and re-name these or other programs, buildings or entities named after child molesting clerics.

The Center has two locations in MO (6435 Truman Road and 3936 Troost Ave.) and one in KS (2200 Central Ave.)

2) Dozens of US bishops have revealed, or pledged to reveal, names of clerics where the allegations against them have been found to be "credible" or "substantiated." SNAP wants KC MO Bishop James Johnston do to the same immediately. The bishop says he wants to wait until a probe byMissouri’s attorney general is finished. But that’s “irresponsible” SNAP says because “every day a single predator is hidden, kids are at risk.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/catholic-priests-sexual-abuse-lists.html

3) In recent weeks, news media elsewhere have reported that four "credibly accused" priests also worked in the KC area. One appears to be still on the job.

-- Fr. Deusdedit Mulokozi (a.k.a. Fr. Deo) who belongs to a KC MO-based Catholic religious order called Missionaries of the Precious Blood. The priest was accused in Sedalia and expelled from the Jefferson City diocese. His order then relocated him to Liberty.  However, the  Missionaries of the Precious Blood decided Fr. Mulokozi didn’t pose a threat to children and as far as SNAP know he is still working now in churches in Africa.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/diocesan_lists/Jefferson_City/2018_11_08_Jefferson_City_Clergy_Religious_Removed.pdf

The other three were all ordained for and worked in the KC MO diocese, but were named as “credibly accused” by Springfield-Cape’s bishop and are now deceased:

-- Msgr. John J. Rynish, a Kansas City native who worked at Holy Cross parish and St. Stephen parish, both in KC MO.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2018/09_10/2018_10_10_BuffaloReflex_2Priests.htm

http://dioscg.org/wp-content/uploads/13DioPriestsAccusedR121118.pdf

-- Fr. Eugene Deragowski, who worked at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in KC MO.

http://dioscg.org/wp-content/uploads/13DioPriestsAccusedR121118.pdf

-- Fr. Mark C. Ernstmann, a Wichita native who attended Conception Seminary in Conception, MO (in the KC MO diocese) and later headed a seminary himself for 15 years. Fr. Ernstmann also was in charge of Catholic schools for the Springfield-Cape diocese.

http://dioscg.org/wp-content/uploads/13DioPriestsAccusedR121118.pdf

KC church officials, SNAP says, have a duty to tell parents and the public these four potentially dangerous clerics were in the area, and aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by them.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected]