Three St. Louis Priests Are Laicized

Archbishop Raymond Burke said Friday that three St. Louis priests had been laicized, or defrocked, by the Vatican.

Burke had asked Pope John Paul II to return Michael McGrath, Donald Straub and Robert Yim to "the lay state," according to a statement issued by the archdiocese, because "all three had credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against them."

In the archdiocese's statement, [Archbishop] Burke said he "expresses his deepest regrets to all who have been harmed by these priests and to anyone who has been abused by a member of the clergy," and urged others abused by a member of the clergy to contact the archdiocese or civil authorities.

Jamie Allman, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the Vatican was reviewing more cases of abusive priests from the archdiocese but would not say how many or provide names. He did, however, confirm that one of those was the Rev. Bryan Kuchar. He described that case as pending. Kuchar, who is fighting the laicization process, is serving three years in the St. Louis County jail after a jury found him guilty last year of three counts of statutory sodomy for molesting a 14-year-old boy in 1995.

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