Abuse group to leaflet Sedalia churches

Abuse group to leaflet Sedalia churches

They want to find and help victims of predator priests

One was ousted from 3 Sedalia area parishes in 2015

Then he was sent to Kansas City, Houston and Africa

He’s still on the job now despite being deemed ‘credibly accused’

SNAP challenges mid-Missouri bishop to seek out “those in pain”

WHAT

After a sidewalk news conference (holding signs and childhood photos), clergy sex abuse victims will

--pass out leaflets alerting the public that four credibly accused child molesting clerics have been in Sedalia

--urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes to come forward, and

They’ll also urge mid-Missouri’s Catholic bishop to

--add several names to his ‘credibly accused’ predator priest on the Jeff City diocesan website, and

--warn officials in Tanzania that an abusive former Sedalia priest who was ousted from the diocese is working at a church in Africa.

WHEN

Tuesday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside St Patrick Catholic Church  (660 826 2062), 415 E 4th Street in Sedalia

WHO

Three-four clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests including a Moberly native who is the group’s former longtime national director (He was abused by a mid-MO priest.)

WHY

---1) Despite repeated pledges to be “open” and “transparent” about clergy sex abuse, mid-Missouri Catholic officials refuse to publicize the names of every child molesting cleric who is or was in the Jefferson City diocese (which includes Sedalia).

In 2018, Jeff City Bishop Shawn McKnight posted SOME such names on his website (like most bishops have done) but provided little information about them and left off several alleged predators.

Using court records, church records and mainstream media accounts, SNAP has found two accused predator priests who worked in Sedalia but are NOT on McKnight’s list - Fr. Geoffrey A. Brooke and Fr. Richard C. Colbert.

Fr. Brooke was put on leave two years ago from his Jeff City parish because of reports of "boundary violations with minors." He also worked at various parishes throughout mid-Missouri, at the MU Newman Center in Columbia and in Washington DC.

https://www.sedaliademocrat.com/stories/former-sedalia-priest-placed-on-leave-following-allegations,8296

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2019/03_04/2019_03_25_Beat_Priest_on.htm

Fr. Colbert was suspended by Jeff City church officials from his Warsaw parish after being sued in 2005 for reportedly molesting at least one child at Boys Town in Nebraska. (He reportedly left “abruptly and quietly.)

Colbert spent 15 years, until the mid 1990s, in six central Missouri parishes in Cole Camp, Fayette, Russellville, Pilot Grove and Jeff City and Sedalia (from 1977-79).

The lawsuit said he victimized several youngsters and developed "unhealthy, psychologically dependent relationships" with students "to recruit them for sex." The priest has admitted that he had one “inappropriate” relationship but claimed it was “not sexual.” 

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2003_07_21_Buttry_PriestLeft_Richard_Colbert_1.htm

Fr .Colbert was assigned to Boys Town from 1985 to 1988.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/05_06/2006_05_20_CasperStarTribune_JudgeDismisses.htm

For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, SNAQP says McKnight should add their names to his ‘credibly accused’ list.

----2) In November 2018, a Sedalia cleric, Fr. Deusdedit “Deo" Mulokozi was first publicly deemed ‘credibly accused’ of child sexual abuse on the Jeff City diocesan website by his superiors.

After the abuse report was made, church officials quietly shuffled Fr. Deo to Liberty MO, then Houston (to a church-run treatment center), and then back to his native Tanzania where he still pastors today.

From 2014-15, he worked at the parishes of Sacred Heart and St. Patrick in Sedalia and St. John the Evangelist in Bahner.

He was expelled from the diocese and IS on the diocesan ‘credibly accused’ list.

According to a church website, as recently as 2019, Fr. Doe was an active priest in Numbyani, Kenya parish. He’s from Tanzania.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2019/01_02/2019_01_12_Clohessy_InTroubling.htm

SNAP wants Jeff City Bishop Shawn McKnight to join them in writing church and law enforcement authorities so that Fr. Deo might be suspended, investigated and prosecuted.

The group says it’s McKnight’s duty to protect kids from the priest, no matter where he’s living.

Both Fr. Deo and Fr. Colbert belong to the Liberty MO-based Society of the Precious Blood (816 781 4344).

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected]

Judy Jones 314 974 5003, [email protected]