One more priest put on ‘credibly accused’ list - Four more should be

Another child molesting Catholic cleric has been quietly added recently to the St. Louis archdiocese’s ‘credibly accused’ abusers list, according to last week’s St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper.

But that list remains very incomplete and inadequate. For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski should honor his pledge to be ‘open’ about abuse and add at least FIVE more names.

The new name is Fr. Vincent Duggan who spent time at Our Lady of Providence Parish in Grantwood, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Louis, Resurrection in Wellsville and Mary Queen and Mother Nursing Center.

Rozanski should ALSO add the names of three clerics who have been deemed ‘credibly accused’ by the Springfield MO dioceses and/or other dioceses.

The most important is Fr. Gary Carr, a St. Louis native who lives in St. Louis now, faces at least three allegations and is on the ‘credibly accused’ list in the Springfield MO and the Little Rock dioceses. In 2008, he worked at St. Francis of DeSales (771-3100, [email protected]) in South City.

Carr also worked in at least 16 Missouri towns (Joplin, Springfield, Webb City, Advance, Glennon, Glennonville, Malden, Poplar Bluff, Charleston, Houston, Licking, Roby, West Plains, Thayer, Billings, Monett) and in Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska.

Two other alleged predator priests are on the Springfield MO diocesan ‘credibly accused’ list and should also be on the St. Louis archdiocesan list. They spent most of their careers in southern Missouri but, during some of those years, their assignments were actually in the St. Louis archdiocese (before Springfield became its own diocese).

They are:

Fr. Wallace “Wally” Ellinger, a Webster Groves native who graduated from Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis. After leaving the priesthood, he worked in Texas.

--Fr. William E. Donovan, who was accused of molesting two boys and was also active in the Boy Scouts.

Finally, two other names of alleged predator priests should be added to the St. Louis list (though no diocese has deemed them ‘credibly accused’ yet).

They are:

--Fr. Alex Anderson who faces four accusers, a pending civil lawsuit and now heads the St. Rose of Lima Parish in DeSoto.

Over the past three decades, no other priest in the US has ever been accused this often without having been at least suspended.

None of the four individuals who say they were hurt by Anderson know one another.

One of his accusers was paid $22,500 by the archdiocese.

It’s extraordinarily reckless and callous for Rozanski to keep Anderson on the job.

Anderson worked at St. Pius V in St. Louis, St. Blaise in Maryland Heights, Immaculate Heart of Mary in St. Louis, St. Simon's in Concord Village, St. Andrew's in Lemay, Assumption in Mattese, Sacred Heart in Eureka and St. Josephs' Home for Boys in south city.

--Fr. Charles M. DeGuire who was sued in 2016 for reportedly molesting a ten-year-old in St. Louis at the now-closed St. Aloysius Gonzaga parish in south city. He worked at two other city parishes – St. Matthew the Apostle and St. Anthony of Padua - at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in University City and in parishes in Folk and St. Mary’s Missouri. DeGuire also lived at Regina Cleri in Shrewsbury.

Here’s the official St. Louis archdiocesan ‘credibly accused’ list.

And here’s another, more inclusive and accurate list, compiled by a well-respected and thorough Boston-based archive and research group called BishopAccountability.org.

CONTACT: David Clohessy, SNAP ([email protected], 314-566-9790), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)