The Diocese of Belleville, the Diocese of Dallas and the St. Louis Archdiocese are all named in a suit alleging that Fr. Roberts sexually abused 'John Doe' at St. Mary's Catholic School in Belleville, Illinois (across the river from St. Louis, Missouri) in 1984.
For its part, the Belleville Diocese denies that it was responsible for supervising Roberts. He spent a week at St. Mary's in 1984.Would Clohessy be satisfied if Archbishop Burke announced that it was his problem and that he would assume full responsibility for Fr. Roberts? I doubt it!
In a statement Monday, the Belleville Diocese maintained that Roberts was a priest of the Dallas Diocese, where he was ordained in 1966.
Member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests sent a letter Monday to all three religious entities urging them to stop their "legal maneuvering."
"Here you have three bishops saying, 'not our problem, not our problem, not our problem,'" David Clohessy, SNAP's director, said at a news conference on Monday.
Fr. Roberts is the one responsible for his actions, as well as anyone who helped him in his alleged crimes - it certainly is not Abp. Burke's responsibility - the suit was filed in the St. Clair County Court of Illinois. If 'John Doe' is suing Fr. Roberts and others, I suppose it gives Clohessy an opportunity for more free air time to babble on and on. Those truly responsible for acts of perversion should be brought to justice - and certainly, SNAP could be helpful in doing this. However, considering the legal manuvering of 'John Doe' and his attorney, it appears that all parties are now obligated to certain procedural legal rules - and this is in addition to the known facts of the case.
From what has been stated, the archdiocese (of St Louis) revoked Fr. Roberts' faculties to work as a priest in 1994, following two complaints of sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred 15 years prior. It is unclear if he was ever incardinated anywhere other than in Dallas
Post Dispatch article here.
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