Victims blast Salina bishop

Victims blast Salina bishop

He admits four abuse ‘mistakes’

But no wrongdoer is identified or apparently punished

“Disciplining the deceitful will stop cover ups,” group says

SNAP ‘outs’ 2 ‘credibly accused’ clerics who were left off list

And it worries that high ranking predator is in Salina diocese

They want KS bishop to disclose “others who are or were here too” 

WHAT

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

--blast Salina’s bishop for refusing to release a FULL list of child molesting clerics,

--reveal the names of two credibly accused priests who are/were in his diocese but have received virtually no attention here,

--criticize him for hiding the names of church officials who made ‘mistakes’ in four clergy sex cases,

--urge him to ‘come clean’ about any other predators (besides a prominent cardinal) who have been sent into his diocese, and

--beg those with information or suspicions about abuse to contact the Kansas Bureau of investigation.

WHEN

Tuesday, August 20 at 2:45 p.m.

WHERE
Outside Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic church, 731 Pierre St. (corner of S. 8th St.) in Manhattan KS (where at least 2 credibly accused abusive priests worked)

WHO

Two-three 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 former long time executive director (and whose brother is a predator priest)

WHY

--1) In March, Salina Bishop Gerald Vincke finally posted a list of 14 ‘credibly accused’ child molesting clerics who are or were in his diocese. https://salinadiocese.org/home/clergy-abuse

(US bishops began doing this 17 years ago. Most had already done so by the time the Vincke did so.)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/diocesan_lists/Salina/2019_03_29_Salina_Register_Special_Report.pdf

But Vincke left at least three credibly accused clerics OFF his list. They include:

--Fr. Ronald Sam Gilardi, who was ordained in 1988 and taught at a Catholic school in Hays KS until 1996, when he was sent to Victoria KS. From 1997-2000, he was the sole priest at St. Catharine's in Catharine, KS.

In 2000, Fr. Gilardi was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a boy in 1993-1994 after reportedly plying his victim with tobacco, alcohol and pornography. Gilardi pleaded guilty to ‘indecent liberties’ and was ordered to spend 32 months in a treatment facility, followed by five years' probation. As of 2017 Gilardi appears to have been registered as a Missouri Sex Offender. His last known address is that of the RECON/Wounded Brothers Project in Robertsville, Missouri.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Gilardi_Ronald_Sam_OFM.Cap.htm

--Fr. Thaddeus Posey, who worked and/or lived in Colorado, Missouri, Louisiana, Washington DC and at least three KS towns (Kansas City KS, Parsons, and Victoria, at St. Fidelis Friary, where he passed away)

In March, he was included on a list of ‘credibly accused’ abusive clerics put out by the Denver-based Capuchin Catholic religious order, to which he belonged.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/order_lists/Capuchins_St_Conrad/2019_03_28_Capuchins_St_Conrad_Press_Release.pdf

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news555/2013_08_11_Denver_Post_Fr_Thaddeus.pdf

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/PriestList/195/Father-Thaddeus-Pose.aspx

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/documents/Thaddeus%20Posey%20Timeline.pdf

--Fr. Donald P. McCarthy, who worked in the Salina diocese for 36 years. In 2005, a Texas man, Robert P. Daigle, sued a Louisiana diocese for the alleged abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest and Fr. McCarthy who was a seminarian at the time. (The priest was a pedophile who abused 'numerous youths,' the Alexandria bishop later said publicly.)

Fr. McCarthy was active in Boy Scouts and taught at Sacred Heart school in Salina.

Daigle's attorney was Paul Marx (337 237 2537)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/2005_02_02_Burgess_ManSues.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/1970_04_17_NW_Kansas_Register_RevDonald.pdf

SNAP wants Vincke to add these three names to his list and explain his decision to omit them initially.

2) In addition to adding names to his ‘accused’ list, SNAP wants Vincke to expand it to include photos, whereabouts and full work histories of ALL proven, admitted and credibly accused clerics, such as nuns, brothers, monks, seminarians and bishops.

3) In March, Vincke admitted that that Salina diocese had made “mistakes” in four cases of clergy sexual abuse (Msgr. William Merchant, Fr. Roger Hough, Fr. John Walsh and Fr. Robert Schleiter). https://salinadiocese.org/home/clergy-abuse

That’s not honest or effective at stopping current and future cover ups, SNAP says.

First, Vincke should “publicly name and punish” the individuals who are responsible, SNAP believes, because “Catholics deserve honesty” and “disciplining wrongdoers is how future wrongdoing is deterred.”

Second, bishops often “selfishly minimize, sanitize and mischaracterize deliberate decisions that endanger kids and deceive parishioners using words like ‘mistake’ instead of more accurate words like ‘cover up’ and ‘mislead.’ The group wants Vincke to admit that what he calls ‘mistakes’ were actually “intentional acts designed to protect clerical careers, comfort and convenience, not innocent ‘slip ups.’”

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2019/03_04/2019_03_29_Moser_FormerManhattan.htm

4) In February 2019, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation launched a probe into all four Kansas dioceses and how they deal with abuse. (To report information: 1-800-872-7463,[email protected])

http://www.complicitclergy.com/2019/07/23/kansas-bureau-of-investigation-launches-clergy-abuse-investigations-in-33-counties/ 

In July, the KBI disclosed that it has opened 74 current investigations and recieved calls from 119 victims.

https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article233015562.html

SNAP applauds the KBI’s work. It wants Naumann to urge his flock to “report any information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes or cover ups” to the agency.

“It’s not enough to comply with subpoenas,” SNAP says. “Naumann and his staff are concealing and have concealed crimes by clerics for years. If they want to restore faith in their institution, they must reverse course and vigorously push parishioners to share what they know or suspect about molesters with the KBI.”

BACKGROUND

The Salina diocese is headed by Bishop Gerald Vincke (who was appointed in September of last year) and covers 31 counties (https://salinadiocese.org/)

Two Kansas Catholic dioceses (Kansas City KS and Salina) have produced lists of predators while two others (Wichita & Dodge City) have not.

The clerics who are on Vincke’s ‘credibly accused’ list are Louis Bachand,  Maurice Dion,  Christian Dreiling,  Roger Hough,  Louis Mattas, William Merchant,  John Moeder,  Thomas O’Donohoe,  Robert Reif,  Allen Scheer, Robert Schleiter,  Eugene Senecal,  Arthur Van Speybroeck and John Walsh.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected], Larry Davis 816 769 5899, Zach Hiner 517 974 9009, [email protected], Jim McConnell 816 590 4752, [email protected], [email protected]