MO- Parents of suicide victim file unusual suit

It charges that a Catholic priest raped their son

In 2003, cleric was convicted of molesting another boy

Now defrocked, he lives in St. Charles Co. & works at Starbucks

Victim, who wanted to become a priest, took his own life in 2009

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that parents of a suicide victim are suing the St. Louis archdiocese because their son was molested by a local priest. They will also

--read a statement by the victim’s parents and

--urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the priest’s crimes to get help and call police

WHEN

TODAY, Thursday, May 2, 2:30 p.m.

WHERE

Outside Rosati-Kain High School, 4389 Lindell (corner of Newstead) in the Central West End

WHO

Three-four child sex abuse victims who belong to a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY

In a new and unusual civil lawsuit, a St. Louis couple charges that a St. Louis predator priest raped their 13 year old son and that archdiocesan officials are responsible for their son’s 2009 suicide.

The boy, then around age 13, met Fr. Bryan Michael Kuchar between 1999-2002 at “a camp at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, designed for children who were interested in learning more about the Archdiocese.” (The boy was interested in becoming a priest.) At the time, Fr. Kuchar had an office in the seminary in Shrewsbury and headed the archdiocesan “vocations office,” assigned with recruiting priests.

“Other ‘campers’ and people who worked at the seminary or within the camp observed Fr. Kuchar’s interest” in the boy “and noticed the time that the two spent alone,” the suit says. At the camp, Fr. Kuchar “viciously abused the boy “while he was functioning in his role as a priest, mentor and authority figure.”

“The sexual exploitation caused (the boy) extreme emotional distress (and) he became severely depressed, attempting suicide on numerous occasions,” the suit alleges. In 2009, “as a direct result of the psychological, spiritual and emotional toll his childhood abuse took on him,” he took his own life. The victim was 21.

In 2003, Kuchar was found guilty of sexually assaulting another boy in 1995 at Assumption Catholic Church in south St. Louis County. In 2006, Kuchar was released from jail, sent to a church center for pedophile priests and formally removed from the priesthood in 2006. Now, he is believed to be working at Starbucks in St. Charles County. Earlier, he also worked at a Starbucks at 17293 Chesterfield Airport Rd. in Chesterfield (636 536 6885). He’s a registered sex offender: http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/CJ38/OffenderDetails?page=0&column=name&id=1211113&lastName=Kuchar&suffix=&firstName=Bryan&middleName=Michael

The parents are suing, the suit says, “in order to hold Defendants responsible for the suffering and eventual death of their son which was caused by sexual abuse perpetrated upon their son by Father Kuchar, one of Defendants’ employees, and to protect other children from the pain of childhood sexual abuse.”

Kuchar also worked at the Cathedral on Lindell, Rosati-Kain High School, St. Timothy Church in Affton, and St. John the Baptist Church in south St. Louis. He also helped direct the archdiocesan vocations office, recruiting teenagers and men to the priesthood. Kuchar also lived at St. John the Baptist High School in the city's Bevo neighborhood.

SNAP realizes that Kuchar needs to earn a living and is NOT calling on Starbucks to fire him. But SNAP wants local Catholic officials to warn parents, parishioners and the public about him. And SNAP encourages Kuchar to get a job with no contact with the public. He’s believed to be around 46 years old, and SNAP calls him a “well-educated, articulate and cunning predator.”  The nearest Starbucks Regional Office is in Chicago at 312 463 0331.

Kuchar lives at 492 Parkgate Drive in Lake St Louis. http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/CJ38/Search

The parents are represented by St. Louis attorneys Ken Chackes (314 369 3902 cell, 314 872 8420, [email protected]) and Nicole Gorovsky (314  872 8420, [email protected]). The suit, filed today in St. Louis city, seeks unspecified damages and names both Kuchar and the archdiocese as defendants.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 566 9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 503 0003, [email protected]