Clergy Sex Abuse Victims News Conference Wednesday in Jefferson City

Two more ‘predator priests’ were in mid-MO

But neither has attracted any public attention here

SNAP wants three clerics added to church ‘accused’ list

One priest, expelled from here, now works in overseas parish

Victims write church officials in MO, TX & Africa about him

Group says MO Catholic officials are “backsliding” on child safety

WHAT:

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will demand that mid-Missouri’s Catholic bishop

--add three more credibly accused predator priests to his ‘credibly accused’ website list, and

--post more details about ALL child molesting clerics, like other bishops do, and

Concerned about priest who was expelled from mid-Missouri but is still on the job today in Africa, the group will

--prod Jeff City’s bishop to warn church and secular authorities about him, and

--announce that they are writing to church officials in two states, several cities and two countries about him.

WHEN:

Wednesday, March 24 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:

Outside the Jefferson City Catholic diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 2207 W. Main St. in Jeff City (573 635 9127)

WHO:

Three-four members of 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 molested by a Jeff City priest who worked in nine mid-MO towns.)

WHY:

SNAP is concerned about three accused predator priests who were in central Missouri and a fourth priest who is still on the job in Africa. Two of them are ‘completely under the radar here” SNAP says, having been ‘outed’ elsewhere. Bishop Shawn McKnight has a duty to protect kids from him and tell others about them, the group says.

---1) Two alleged mid-Missouri predator priests are NOT, but should be, on the Jeff City ‘credibly accused’ list which is posted on the diocesan website.

Fr. Vincent J. Duggan who worked in Montgomery County at Resurrection in Wellsville. He also spent time at three St. Louis church facilities: Our Lady of Providence Parish, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish and Mary Queen and Mother Nursing Center. He retired and died in1984.

Duggan was apparently just added to the St. Louis archdiocese’s ‘credibly accused’ list, according to last week’s issue of the St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper. He’s not being sued.

https://www.archstl.org/deceased-priest-added-to-archdioceses-list-of-clergy-with-substantiated-claims-of-abuse-of-minors-6284

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Duggan_Vincent_Assignment_History.pdf

https://www.archstl.org/promise-to-protect/list-release

https://www.olpstl.org/Parish/History

https://elephind.com/?fes=1&a=q&r=461&o=20&results=1&sf=byDA&puq=CRRAQZZEVN

https://www.archstl.org/promise-to-protect/list-release

Fr. Charles M. DeGuire, who worked in Osage County for seven years (1950-1957) at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Folk. In 2016, he was sued for reportedly abusing a ten year old Missouri boy.

He was also at 3 St. Louis area parishes (St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Anthony of Padua, Our Lady of Lourdes and Immaculate Conception) and a retirement center for clergy.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/suit-filed-against-archdiocese-of-st-louis-alleges-sexual-abuse-by-deceased-priest/article_a49f4c64-b9cf-57a7-b4aa-715c279ef936.html

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/DeGuire_Charles_M.htm

http://preservationresearch.com/historic-preservation/preserving-st-aloysius-gonzaga-church/

---2) A third mid-Missouri accused priest is also NOT on the Jeff City diocese’s list.

Fr. Geoffrey A. Brooke was put on leave in 2019 from Immaculate Conception Church in Jefferson City due to allegations of "boundary violations with minors." At the time, McKnight disclosed the accusations to some students and families but not the public. (It became known because a parishioner gave a copy of the letter to a newspaper.)

Since his ouster three years ago, the Jeff City diocese has apparently stayed silent about him. Brooke also worked in Columbia, Washington DC and at two Sedalia parishes.

https://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2019/mar/16/jefferson-city-priest-placed-on-leave/770164/

---3) In November 2018, a Sedalia cleric, Fr. Deusdedit “Deo" Mulokozi was first named publicly as ‘credibly accused’ of child sexual abuse on the website of his superiors at the Jefferson City diocese list.

Detectives asked that he Fr. Deo be charged with assault. A church panel found him guilty of ‘boundary violations.’ Jeff City’s bishop expelled him from his diocese. Fr. Deo was then quietly shuffled to Liberty MO, then to a church run 'treatment center' in Houston and then back to his native Tanzania where he still pastors today.

SNAP is worried about the safety of kids around him in Africa.

He is now listed on the diocese’s website as ‘credibly accused’ of child sexual abuse and “unsuitable for ministry out of concern for the safety of our youth.”

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

SNAP wants McKnight to contact church and law enforcement officials in each town where Fr. Deo worked, urging them to launch investigations into the priest and warn others about him. The group is writing such letters themselves. The group wants McKnight to also prod church figures in Tanzania and Rome to suspend him.

---4) With all of these clerics, SNAP wants McKnight to personally visit each place they worked and publicly beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse by the clerics to come forward and get help. For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, McKnight should also add more information about the men to his website, like their photos, where they worked and their last known whereabouts.

McKnight became bishop in 2018, published the ‘accused’ list that same year and has updated it several times. But, SNAP says, it’s more vague and less helpful than many similar bishops’ lists.

https://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2021/feb/28/jefferson-city-bishop-taps-parishes-develop-diocesan-plan/861763/

McKnight can be reached at 573 635 9127. His vicar general, Msgr. Robert Kurwicki, can be reached at [email protected].

Several times in recent years, with varying degrees of success, SNAP has prodded McKnight to add more names to his list.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected]

Judy Jones 314 974 5003