The Archdiocese of St. Louis knowingly enabled and concealed the sexual abuse of children by priests and nuns for decades, says a new lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of 25 unnamed individuals.
The suit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court includes dozens of pages of details concerning the accusations. The Associated Press reports several other lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese this week, bringing the total number of complainants to 60.
David Clohessy was among a group of people who gathered Thursday in front of the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica and said they have experienced abuse by church employees. He said he hopes this lawsuit inspires other survivors to open up about being abused.
“We’re rarely, rarely aware of just how burdensome it is to quietly keep this horrible secret because we’ve been doing it for decades,” Clohessy said. “But it’s a freeing and a liberating moment and the beginning of really rebuilding our life.”
Clohessy said he was abused by a priest as a child in the Diocese of Jefferson City. He is the former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which is a support group for those wounded by religious and institutional authorities.
Plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial to consider a list of charges, including childhood sexual abuse, fraud, and aiding and abetting. The suit also claims the governing body of the local Catholic Church transferred predatory clergy members to different parishes rather than take legal action.
According to the lawsuit, “Defendants Archdiocese and Archbishop allowed and/or encouraged its agents to turn a blind eye toward sexual abuse of minors in furtherance of its policy of covering up these crimes.”
The suit also alleges, “As a direct result of Defendants’ wrongful conduct, Plaintiffs have suffered and continue to suffer great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life; and will continue to be prevented from performing their daily activities and obtaining the full enjoyment of life; and/or have incurred and will continue to incur expenses for medical and psychological treatment, therapy, and counseling."
Only some names of clergy members accused of sexual misconduct were released. One is the head of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, Archbishop George Lucas.
Peggy Schwartz, a clinical social worker and mental health therapist with SNAP, read a list of survivors’ quotes from the lawsuit that detail what the victims were told by their abusers.
“‘Said if he told his parents about the abuse, they would not love him anymore,” Schwartz read. “Gave her candy and explained that God wanted him to do these things to her. Told a 7-year-old she was a ‘loose woman’ who was putting herself out there for adult men to desire her.”
Anne Gleeson said she was abused by a nun from 8th grade until she was almost 20 years old. She said she didn’t understand her situation as abuse until she was nearly 40.
“I just wish that those who taught us to confess, those who taught us about good morals, would use their own and do as they say and just get this over with, admit what they’ve done.
“What they did to us was steal our adolescence, our peer relationships,” Gleeson said. “Some of us lost our families, some didn’t get to the schools we were meant to, and we just never made it anywhere in life, and it stunted us. It’s unfair, it’s unholy, it’s criminal.”
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski is also named as a defendant in his capacity as leader of the archdiocese. Most of the plaintiffs still live in Missouri.
Clohessy said he wants the archbishop to be forthcoming about current and past cases of abuse.
“It would be so refreshing and so reassuring to see the archbishop share the whereabouts of these priests and their work histories and share it voluntarily instead of forcing victims to go through countless legal motions and court battles to get this kind of helpful information,” he said.
Douglas Lay also spoke about his experience as a survivor of abuse. Today, he is a pastor and advocates against evangelical clergy abuse. He said he’s frustrated about how few members of the church are willing to speak out against sexual abuse.
“I’ve had a few past pastors privately tell me, ‘We appreciate what you’re doing,’ but Protestant and Catholic leaders, they are not going to stand out here and talk about this,” Lay said. “It is a shame because what they don’t know is if they did, yes there will be consequences. But on the other hand, you will have a new group of people who will more highly respect you for what you’ve done.”
Through tears, Clohessy said the survivors in the lawsuit have already taken an important step to regain control over their lives.
“No matter what happens or doesn’t happen in court, these brave victims have already won,” he said. “They won the minute they told their spouse or their mothers and the minute they signed up with a lawyer and the minute they filed their lawsuit and put the name of their wrongdoer out in the public eye.”
The archdiocese did not respond to requests for comment.
This is the latest in a series of sexual abuse lawsuits and legal action against the archdiocese and former priests. In 2019, then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed criminal charges against 12 former priests. Last November, an abuse victim publicly shared his story after settling a lawsuit against the archdiocese for $1 million.
Correction: The group that gathered Thursday at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica is not part of the lawsuit filed this week. A previous version of this St. Louis Public Radio report mischaracterized their involvement.
