Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese spent more than $517,000 to settle clergy abuse claims

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has paid out more than $517,000 to victims of clergy sexual abuse and another $189,337 in legal fees since 1986, the diocese's bishop disclosed in a letter posted on the diocese website and emailed to Catholics in southern Missouri.

The diocese emailed a copy of the letter to the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday.

Bishop Edward Rice wrote the diocese paid $355,000 out of unrestricted cash reserves to settle eight claims. Another three claims were paid by the diocese's insurer, Catholic Mutual Relief Society, at a cost of $92,500, according to Rice.

The diocese also spent more than $70,000 to assist abuse victims. The money was spent on prescriptions, counseling and "future funeral expenses," Rice wrote.

The legal fees were incurred in the handling of the claims and the recent review of diocese personnel files, the bishop wrote.

"Absolutely no funds have come from any parishes or the Diocesan Development Fund or the Capital Endowment Campaign," he wrote.

All accounting ledgers for "activity" before 1986 were lost in a 1989 flood, Rice wrote.

The diocese launched an inquiry in August into the personnel records of all its clerical and lay staff dating back more than five decades in the wake of reported sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania.

Leslie Eidson, director of communications for the diocese, said at the time the review would look at not only "criminal type" allegations but also ministerial misconduct.

In the latest letter to the "faithful," Rice wrote a "thorough and comprehensive review of the files of all active and deceased diocesan clergy has taken place."

The more-than-six-months inquiry included "a literal review of each and every note, letter and document that was available in each man's file," he added.

"Often times, these allegations and reports of concerns are made with one person's statement after the accused has died and is unable to participate in the investigation," Rice wrote.

The diocese has listed on its website the names of 16 diocesan priests against whom accusations of the abuse of a minor were "deemed to have a semblance of truth."

They include the Rev. Fred Lutz, a retired priest who is accused of sexually abusing a child while he was a "transitional deacon" at St. Mary's Cathedral in Cape Girardeau in the early 1970s.

In addition, seven religious-order priests were listed as having been accused of abuse in the diocese, including Vincentian priest Thomas Parrott, who retired in 1987 and died in 1996.

More than a dozen other priests from religious orders who served or resided in southern Missouri were alleged to have committed sexual abuse outside of the diocese.

They include John Edward Ruhl and John "Jack" Farris, who served the Catholic Church in Cape Girardeau and Perryville, Missouri.

Accusations against Ruhl and Farris, both Vincentian priests, were reported in the Southeast Missourian in 2013. The two men were accused in a lawsuit of molesting children in California, the Southeast Missourian previously reported.

Ruhl worked at St. Mary's Seminary in Perryville from 1961 to 1963 and spent the summer of 1964 at St. Vincent's College in Cape Girardeau. By mid-1993, he had been placed on "inactive leave" and was not expected to return to active ministry, according to documents released as part of a legal settlement.

Ruhl's personnel file, disclosed in a settlement, refers to three allegations of molestation in the 1970s.

Farris' personnel file made no mention of child abuse, but the lawsuit claimed the priest, who died in 2003, molested a child in California from 1951 to 1954, the Southeast Missourian previously reported.

Farris worked at St. Mary's Seminary from 1977 to 1978, Christ the Savior Church in Perryville from 1981 to 1982, and the Evangelization Center in Cape Girardeau from 1985 to 1986.

Rice wrote in his letter the effort by the diocese to address sexual abuse in the church is ongoing as "victims/survivors very likely remain among us."

He wrote shame and guilt belong to "those who abused them and anyone who failed to take appropriate actions once the report was made. We pray for strength and healing for all who have come forward and for those who have yet to do so."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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