Ex-cleric & abuse victims beg KC archbishop to act

They want him to re-assign accused predator priest

‘To be safe, move him to a parish without a school,' SNAP says

Twice in six months, alleged abusers are put in / near KC Catholic schools

Just last month, SNAP says an Overland Park priest pled guilty to child porn

WHAT

Holdings signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and a former Kansas City Kansas Catholic priest will publicly beg Kansas’ top church official to

• reverse his recent decision to transfer an accused child molesting priest to a Lenexa parish with a school,

• fire a recently-hired Mission Catholic school principal who faced a child sexual abuse lawsuit, and

• hold an unprecedented, historic joint open public Q & A session and inviting the public to discuss how reports of crimes against kids are handled in his archdiocese.

They will also

• disclose that last month an Overland Park KS priest was sentenced to prison on child porn charges,

• prod the archbishop to publicly seek out any youngsters here he may have hurt, and

• publicly appeal to Lenexa parishioners to insist that their church officials ‘work harder to safeguard the vulnerable.’

WHEN

Thursday, Feb. 1 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside St. Peters Cathedral, 409 N 15th St., (between Sandusky and Orville Aves.) in Kansas City Kansas

WHO

An ex-KC KS priest-turned-victims-advocate and two victims of clergy sexual abuse who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY

In a letter, sent today to via email, SNAP is asking Kansas City Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann to hold a joint open public meeting to discuss the ‘troubling situations’ described below. (A copy will be available at the news conference.)

In 2021, Fr. John Pilcher was accused of molesting a child and suspended from his position at Mater Dei parish in Topeka.

Late last month, Naumann reinstated Fr. Pilcher, transferring him to Holy Trinity church in Lenexa, a parish with an elementary school, “resulting in an outcry from parishioners who demanded Fr. Pilcher's resignation,” according to media accounts.

Still, ‘out of an abundance of caution,’ SNAP wants Naumann to 1) move Fr. Pilcher to another parish, one without a parochial school, and 2) be more forthcoming about how church officials reportedly ‘investigated’ the allegations against him.

The group is especially skeptical and critical of Naumann for other reasons, including:

• his recent decision to hire an accused abuser as the head of a Catholic school in Mission, and

• his apparent silence and inaction about an Overland Park priest who was sentenced to prison last month on child pornography charges.

DETAILS

1) In Aug. 2023, Naumann let Bishop Miege High School in Mission Kansas hire Phil Baniewicz as its president. But in a 2005 civil sexual abuse lawsuit in Arizona, Baniewicz and two priests were accused of molesting a child. That litigation was apparently settled out of court and the two priests were defrocked because of abuse reports.

SNAP has called this ‘an incredibly reckless decision that deliberately but needlessly puts kids at risk of harm.’

2) In December, Fr. James W. Jackson of Overland Park Kansas was sentenced to prison on child pornography charges to which he had pleaded guilty. He was in ministry as recently as Oct. 2021. He was in ministry as recently in Rhode Island as Oct. 2021.

According to one news source “A search warrant (was) issued for Jackson’s home in Leawood in response to a child pornography investigation.” A spokesman for the Overland Park Police said he will be charged with a crime later (when the pending charges against him are resolved). A spokeswoman for the Johnson County District Attorney’s office in Olathe said that charges have not yet been filed.

As best SNAP can tell, no KC area Catholic officials notified anyone in the KC area of any of this.

3) In between being suspended and reinstated, Fr. Pilcher traveled to Italy and Egypt, calling it a sabbatical. At one point, Fr. Pilcher also worked for the archdiocese in Lawrence. No criminal charges or civil lawsuits against him have been filed.

CONTACT

Former KC KS Catholic priest Tom White of Leawood (913 927 2859, twhite11409@gmail.com)

David Clohessy (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Mike McDonnell, SNAP Executive Director (267-261-0578, mmcdonnell@snapnetwork.org)

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David G. Clohessy

Former national director of SNAP

Current volunteer director of Missouri SNAP

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Prevent Abuse LLC