Victims ‘out’ 5 more accused Spgfld priests

Victims ‘out’ 5 more accused Spgfld priests

They are not on diocese’s ‘credibly accused’ list

Bishop ignores earlier request to add 9 other names

A recently accused priest is in undisclosed location

Group blasts Bishop Paprocki on sex allegations

SNAP: “His official website is deceptive & hurtful

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that five more publicly accused priests were left off the Springfield diocese’s ‘accused’ list.

Each one spent time in central Illinois but has attracted little or no media or public attention before in the state.

And victims will call on local Catholic officials to

--post names of ALL accused priests on their diocesan website,

--include details like their work histories, whereabouts and photos, and

--remove what they call “deceptive and hurtful language” about abuse from the diocesan website.

WHEN

Wednesday, April 21 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 524 E. Lawrence in Springfield IL

WHO

Three-five victims and advocates who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a St. Louis man who is the group's former long time executive director

WHY

----------1) SNAP has discovered and is disclosing the names of five more publicly accused abusive priests who spent time in central Illinois but are not on the official Springfield diocesan ‘accused’ list.

For the most part, these ‘new’ alleged predators were ‘outed’ in news accounts, through litigation and/or by Catholic officials elsewhere. But each was in the Springfield diocese at one point and so, SNAP says, should be added to Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s ‘accused’ list. The new names are:

--Fr. David Ryan, who just last year was removed from a Chicago children’s home. (The director of that facility, Fr. John P. Smyth, was in 2019 also separately accused of abuse.)

Fr. Ryan was ordained in Springfield, worked at parishes in Godfrey and Springfield and as director for the Catholic Children’s Home in Alton.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2020/11_12/2020_11_28_Elyssa_Tribune_Lake_priest.htm

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/accused/ryan-david/

https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/priest-leaving-lake-zurich-parish-amid-sex-abuse-allegations

---Fr. Kenneth John Gansmann, who is on “credibly accused” lists in two Catholic dioceses (Nashville and St. Paul MN).

In Illinois, he worked in Chicago, Joliet and at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Teutopolis.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Gansmann_Kenneth_o.f.m..htm

nhttps://www.andersonadvocates.com/accused/father-kenneth-gansmann/

--Br. Jerome Kucan (also spelled Kucon) was added to the ‘credibly accused’ lists in two Pennsylvania dioceses (Erie and Harrisburg) in 2018. He studied in Teutopolis IL and also worked in parishes in Milwaukee and throughout Illinois.

A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report said he’d been accused of sometimes molesting a boy while another cleric was present and sometimes did the same thing.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Kucan_Jerome_OFM_death_notice.pdf

-- Fr. John “Jack” Campbell, who in 2018 was put on the Midwest Jesuits ‘credibly accused’ list.

He worked at St. Joseph Hall in Decatur in 1952 and in Colorado and Kansas.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/order_lists/Jesuits_Midwest/2018_12_21_Jesuits_Midwest_Established_Allegations_Assignment_List.pdf

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/accused/fr-john-jack-j-campbell-sj/

--Fr Joseph C. Gill, who in 2018 was put on the Midwest Jesuits ‘credibly accused’ list.

He worked at St. Joseph Hall, Decatur in 1961 and in Colorado, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Gill_Joseph_C_sj.htm

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/order_lists/Jesuits_Midwest/2018_12_21_Jesuits_Midwest_Established_Allegations_Assignment_List.pdf

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/accused/fr-joseph-c-gill-sj/

-----2) SNAP is also pushing Paprocki to delete what it calls “deceptive and offensive” language from his website “that hurts victims and deceives parishioners.”

“He deliberately minimizes this horror by focusing solely on the abuse and ignoring the cover up,” said David Clohessy of SNAP, citing passages on Paprocki’s website that claim “there is 100 times more child sexual abuse in public schools than in the Catholic Church” and “in 2017 alone, 42 Pennsylvania teachers were accused of sexual misconduct.”

-----3) Finally, SNAP is begging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or cover ups in southern Illinois to contact the Illinois attorney general who is investigating all of the state’s dioceses. [email protected]. 

http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2018_12/20181219.html

BACKGROUND

Last year, SNAP revealed the names of six other ‘credibly accused’ child molesting clerics who are or were in the Springfield diocese but are/were NOT on Paprocki’s list. They are Fr. Thomas S. McShane (Decatur), Fr. Noel Shaughnessy (Quincy), Fr. Thomas Gardner (Quincy), Fr. Scott Kallal (Jerseyville), Fr. Francis A. Benham (*Lincoln) and Fr. Thomas ****G.**** Meyer (Alton)

(IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION - There have been two priests in the Springfield Diocese with the same name. Fr. Thomas G. Meyer is a now deceased publicly accused abusive cleric and was a religious order cleric who worked in Alton. Fr. Thomas C. Meyer is alive, is NOT accused of abuse, is a diocesan cleric who worked recently in Jacksonville IL)

In recent years, SNAP has urged Paprocki to add these accused abusers to his website: Fr. Henry Willenborg, Fr. Kevin J. Downey, Fr. Richard Niebrugge, Fr. Louis Schlangen, and Fr. Stanislaus Yunker. to his list. He has refused.

https://www.snapnetwork.org/springfield_catholic_bishop_challenged_on_abuse_dec18

Even though his colleagues elsewhere have deemed most of these clerics to be “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse, Paprocki refuses to add any of them to his ‘credibly accused’ list.

Paprocki’s list, in fact, hasn’t been updated in two years.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected], Judy Jones 314 974 5003, Zach Hiner 517 974 9009, [email protected]