DES MOINES – 46 instances of abuse by 9 priests, all dating back to the 1950’s through 1997. Not one of those priests will ever see jail time.
The diocese tells us one of the cases of abuse happened at Saint Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines Although the list is lengthy, with one of the former priests being responsible for 25 of those 46 abuses. The Diocese of Des Moines says they regret what happened and are working to prevent it from happening again.
Bishop Richard Pates says they wanted to be transparent from the beginning. “We are so sorry, we care about the people who were hurt and to the best of our ability we want to prevent from happening again.”
But reality is it took years to release the names of the priests. “We had to do our research and be assured as possible the information we are giving you is good solid information.”
In 2002, the Catholic Church implemented a zero tolerance policy. “It is a one strike and you are out, so if a credible substantiated allegation comes to our attention that priest is removed from ministry forever.”
With these credible allegations surfacing years later, the possibility of charging the alleged abusers is tough. This is because the statute of limitations for the sex crimes has passed.
Senator Brad Zaun says that is unacceptable no matter where. “A lot of these crimes are heinous, disgusting and we hear more and more about this this day in time.”
So he’s working to move bills through the State House to change that. “We are getting narrowed down with bills but I think there will be opportunities for an amendment.” With the hopes of giving sexual abuse victims a voice in court. “Get some sort of restitution, I am not talking about financial, but just to be able to face their accuser and potentially be able to put them in prison.”
The Diocese of Des Moines told Local 5 they now require anyone around children to get a background check and go through safe environment training programs. They also offer those to children to teach about what is inappropriate and what is not.
Bishop Pates said he wanted to announce the results of the diocese investigation before he retired, which will be soon.