KS--Predator priest and doctor is sued for first time

Predator priest and doctor is sued for first time

Molester held parties at lake with alcohol, adults and teenagers

He also took boy out of state & assaulted him after his mom died

Victims group begs bishop to post names of other pedophile priests

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will publicly

--announce a new child abuse lawsuit against a Kansas City priest who’s also a therapist,

--prod the archbishop to post the names of credibly accused predators on diocesan website, and

--urge those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups to keep calling police and prosecutors, not church officials.    

WHEN

TODAY, Friday, December 18 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE

Outside the Catholic Cathedral (of St Peter, 442 N 14tth St. (corner of Orville) in Kansas City KANSAS

WHO

Three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director

WHY

Clergy sex abuse victims will announce a new lawsuit, filed Wednesday, that accuses a KC KS archdiocesan priest who is a medical doctor of molesting a boy at Table Rock Lake. 

At least two others have accused the priest of child sexual abuse. As a result, KC KS archdiocesan officials have suspended the cleric from active ministry.

The civil suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the priest and the archdiocese as defendants, though the priest is identified only as Fr. J. H. W. Jr. It was filed in Wyandotte County district court.

The suit says that several priests and lay people in the archdiocese “had actual knowledge that Fr. JHW was sexually abusing children, providing liquor to them, spending inordinate amounts of time with them and bring them to (his slake house) for nights of debauchery and sexual abuse.” The suit also says that two other adults – a Msgr.  Curtin and a Dr. Tom Gerraty – were “often in attendance” at the lake house when kids were present.

The assaults allegedly happened in the mid-1980s, when the victim was between 15 and 17 years old. The priest was then working at St. Agnes parish in Roeland Park, KS.  He also worked at University of Knasas Hospital but retired in 2012. The suit alleges that the cleric took the boy on trips to California, Hawaii and the Cayman Islands.

The victim is now in his 40s and lives in Missouri. The cleric lives in Shawnee, KS.

Roughly 30 US bishops have posted names of credibly accused clerics on their websites. SNAP wants Archbishop Joseph Naumann to “take this simple, inexpensive step to better protect children and help victims heal.”

CONTACT

David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected], [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]),