Missourians are struggling to determine what a report on clergy abuse the state Attorney General's Office released Friday means to them.
State Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Friday morning during a press conference in St. Louis that he will refer 12 former clergy for potential prosecution in local jurisdictions.
During the press conference, Schmitt released some of the details of the investigation of clergy within the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and the dioceses of Jefferson City, Kansas City and Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
A series of events preceded the investigation, which began in August 2018. The public received revelations about Cardinal Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was suspended in July 2018 over allegations he sexually abused seminary students and later retired. Less than a month later, the Pennsylvania grand jury released a report on clergy abuse across that state.
Within a few days, the Archdiocese of St. Louis asked then-Attorney General Josh Hawley to look into its clergy. Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Diocese of Jefferson City soon followed its lead.
The Attorney General's Office has been mum on the investigation for 13 months.
And, Friday's release of the report has confused Missourians.
Schmitt announced he can't pursue charges against clergy who may be credibly accused, but will refer 12 priests who have been removed from ministry throughout the state to local prosecutors. Those cases encompass all four dioceses, he said.
Following release of the report, McKnight posted a letter to his diocese on its website.
"It is my sincere hope this report assists the church in achieving our goals of accountability and transparency, while respecting the legal standards for privacy of all affected by the report," he wrote. "Let me be clear: We must understand sexual abuse, whether by clergy or others, is still a present reality in society."
He said overcoming abuse will require vigilance and creation of safe protocols to ensure children and youth are protected.
And, he apologized to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Jefferson City, to their friends and to their families.
"The betrayal of trust and of innocence is devastating and in many ways incomprehensible," said Schmitt, who took over the investigation after his predecessor, Josh Hawley, was elected to the U.S. Senate. "Since I took office, one of my top priorities has been conducting a thorough, exhaustive review of allegations of abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church."
The 12 referrals, he said, are more than any other state attorney general since the Pennsylvania report.
The investigation of allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct revealed 163 priests or clergy members allegedly sexually abused minors. Of those, 83 are deceased.
The Missouri statute of limitations prevents prosecution of 46 of the remaining 80 cases. One case remains under investigation by the church. Sixteen have already been referred to local law enforcement, and five are currently under investigation.
Unfortunately, Schmitt's office lumped all the cases into one vat, so dioceses can't tell how many of their own clergy members may face prosecution.
And, that's frustrating for the dioceses, which asked the office to look into their records.
Staff members with the Diocese of Jefferson City are going through details of all 163 allegations of offenses against minors listed in the report to match them up with its own records.
"We are still reviewing it," Helen Osman, the diocese director of communications, said late Friday afternoon.
Chris Neulle, Schmitt's press secretary, said in an email to the newspaper the information is intentionally vague.
"I understand the want to provide distinguishing information to your readers, but at this point, we can't hint at the location of the 12 referrals," he wrote. "They are from all over the state, but I can't go any further than that at this point.
"Down the road, we may be able to provide more specifics, but at this point we have to keep it broad."
Schmitt's office recommended the church implement or accelerate reforms, including incorporation of an independent review board made up of lay people.
The church should assume greater responsibility for oversight of the religious order of priests - which includes priests who aren't associated with a specific diocese. The Diocese of Jefferson City, for example has listed 35 church officials who were credibly accused of clergy abuse, including 30 priests and five members of religious orders.
Dioceses, the report says, have not maintained detailed-enough records of religious order priests, although they serve in parishes, schools and hospitals.
"They interact with parishioners just as frequently as diocesan priests," the report states. "That Missouri dioceses exercise so little supervision over these priests is inexplicable."
Another concern throughout the church that requires scrutiny is the process of transferring priests between dioceses, it said.
When a priest of one diocese moves to another, the receiving diocese relies only on a letter of good standing from the sending bishop, the report said, with no explanation of why transferring priests were transferring.
" Investigation of files has revealed the transferring priests sometimes had negative history in their home diocese," it said. "Some of that negative history was not disclosed to the receiving dioceses. Worse yet, some transferring priests were accepted into a Missouri diocese despite the receiving diocese actually knowing of their negative histories."
Their supervision and discipline gap has been exploited in the past, it said, thereby endangering children.
EARLIER COVERAGE:
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is referring 12 former clergy for potential criminal prosecution after his office completed a 13-month investigation of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.
Schmitt on Friday released details of the investigation of religious leaders within the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the dioceses of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Springfield-Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City.
Missouri is among several states that launched investigations last year after a Pennsylvania report cited abuse of more than 1,000 children by hundreds of priests there since the 1940s, and efforts by church leaders to hide it.
The Missouri investigation began in August 2018 under then-Attorney General Josh Hawley. Hawley was elected to the U.S. Senate in November, and Schmitt, a fellow Republican, took over the investigation after he was appointed to replace him.
Schmitt said the 12 referrals are the most by any state attorney general since the Pennsylvania report.
"The betrayal of trust and of innocence is devastating and in many instances incomprehensible," Schmitt, himself a Catholic, said at a news conference in St. Louis.
The investigation reviewed personnel records for every priest serving in Missouri dating to 1945 -- more than 2,000 priests and 300 deacons, seminarians and religious women, Schmitt said. Investigators also spoke to abuse survivors and their relatives who contacted the attorney general's office.
Investigators found 163 priests or clergy members accused of sexual abuse or misconduct against minors. Eighty-three have died. Of the 80 still alive, the statute of limitations has run out on 46 of the crimes, Schmitt said.
One case is still under open investigation by the Catholic Church. Schmitt said 16 cases have been previously referred for local prosecution and five cases have been or are being investigated by prosecutors, leaving the 12 potential cases Schmitt is referring for prosecution.
Schmitt said it was clear the church was involved in a "long, sustained and far-reaching cover-up," but said his office didn't consider recommending charges against anyone in the church hierarchy because the focus was on the "perpetrators of the crimes."
David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called that decision "tragic." Clohessy said Schmitt also should have released more details about the alleged crimes and where they occurred.
"Even without naming individual names, he could still provide much more helpful information than he has," Clohessy said.
Spokeswomen for the Jefferson City and Springfield-Cape Girardeau dioceses said they had not seen the report and declined comment. Phone messages left with the St. Louis archdiocese and the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese were not immediately returned.
Schmitt's office also provided recommendations to the Catholic Church. They included assuming greater responsibility and oversight of religious order priests and those visiting from other dioceses; developing independent review boards composed entirely of lay people; and being more open when a priest is removed from the ministry.
Schmitt said the clergy abuse hotline will remain open and he encouraged any additional abuse victims to come forward.
Each of the state's Roman Catholic jurisdictions conducted its own internal investigation , too.
The St. Louis investigation released in July found 61 clergy with what the archdiocese called "substantiated" allegations of sexual abuse of children. Thirty-four of the priests are deceased. The archdiocese said all of the living priests have been removed from the ministry. The list separately named three additional priests accused of possessing child pornography.
The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese released its report last week, citing 19 clerics, none of them currently serving. Thirteen have died, two have been removed from ministry, and four have been removed from ministry. One of the laicized clerics, Shawn Ratigan, is serving 50 years in federal prison on a 2013 conviction for producing or attempting to produce child pornography.
The other two dioceses released similar lists of accused religious leaders last year. The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau identified 16 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children. The Diocese of Jefferson City listed 35 credibly accused church officials, including 30 priests and five members of a religious order.
This article was updated at 11:00 p.m. Sept. 13, 2019, with additional details, local diocese comments.