KS - Victims leaflet serial predator priest's neighborhood

• New civil child sex abuse & cover up suit against him is filed
• Group hands out fliers warning about "MO's most prolific pedophile"
• SNAP also writes to local community group urging them to take action
• And self help organization urges bishop in Kansas to alert flock via parish bulletins

WHAT:
Clergy sex abuse victims will go door-to-door handing out fliers warning citizens about a predator priest (the most widely accused such cleric in Missouri history) is living in their neighborhood.. They will also disclose and discuss a new civil lawsuit against the priest and the KC MO Catholic diocese.

WHEN:
TODAY, Friday, August 12, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:
In Leawood, KS in the Deer Park subdivision and surrounding area (starting at the corner Birch & 133rd).

http://bit.ly/r3IT7f

WHO:
Several members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (www.SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director

WHY:
In late July, a new clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit was filed against the KC Catholic diocese and Fr. Thomas M. Reardon, who is the most accused priest in Missouri history. Another similar suit is being filed today.

As of three months ago, Reardon had 23 credible accusations against him. According to multiple lawsuits, Reardon often acted in tandem with another notorious pedophile priest, Fr. Thomas J. O’Brien, with both of them molesting the same child (sometimes at the same time).

SNAP has recently learned that Reardon has been living near three schools in the Overland Park / Leawood, KS area and is concerned for the welfare of children in that area, which includes the Deer Park subdivision.

SNAP is especially worried because church officials successfully hid Reardon’s crimes until the criminal statute of limitations expired, and therefore he is not listed on any sex offender registry. The group suspects few people in the neighborhood are aware of the many serious accusations against Reardon.

In today’s suit, Reardon is accused of sexually violating a then 13year old boy around 1969 at St. Elizabeth’s parish in Kansas City MO.

In 1989, Reardon resigned from the Catholic priesthood in the face of allegations of financial misdeeds. Earlier, he had been sent to Johns Hopkins for treatment for his “addictions,” and yet the Kansas City diocese still paid for him to become a licensed counselor. In 2004, however, Reardon voluntarily turned in that professional license when lawsuits against him began piling up.

He’s now faced at least twenty-five allegations from individuals who say he molested them as kids, and almost all of them have settled civil cases against him. Kansas City Catholic officials are reportedly trying to defrock him

Since Reardon now lives in Kansas, SNAP is pushing the Kansas City, KS Archbishop Joseph Naumann to tell his flock about Reardon’s presence, through website notices as well as bulletin and pulpit announcements. The group is also writing members of the Deer Creek Community Association and urging them to warn neighbors about Reardon.

CONTACT:
SNAP director David Clohessy of St. Louis 314 566 9790 cell, [email protected], Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP Outreach Director 314 862 7688, 314 503 0003, [email protected], Mike Hunter of Kansas City, SNAP KC director 913 634 6490