Lawsuits alleging abuse are nearer to trial

[proud2BlibKansan]

This hits close to home for me. I worked for one of these priests while he was allegedly molesting boys. This just makes me ill.


By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

The boys called them the party priests.

They held pool and lake galas where drinks were freely flowing, even for their teenage guests. They let the young boys drive and smoke in their cars, left dirty magazines around the rectory for them to read, and talked openly in graphic terms about sex.

For boys just entering the awkward stages of adolescence, nothing seemed cooler than hanging out with Monsignor Thomas O’Brien and Father Thomas Reardon of Kansas City.

Except for the price that many of the boys — now men — say they paid. They allege that the priests used their positions of power to prey on the youngsters, plying them with alcohol, groping them and offering them money for sex.

Though the alleged incidents occurred years ago, they are haunting both priests and the diocese today. A dozen lawsuits against either O’Brien or Reardon are winding their way through the courts, painting a graphic picture of lewd behavior involving scores of young men spanning several decades.

It included accusations of rape, sodomy, oral sex and masturbatory acts, according to the lawsuits.

more . . . http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/375441.html