Diocese Knew About Abuse by KC Priest but Did Nothing, Witnesses Tell Jury
A well-known public relations consultant, a Catholic nun and a former school board vice president told a Jackson County jury Wednesday that they had reported sexual abuse concerns involving Monsignor Thomas O’Brien to the diocese over a span of decades, but nothing was ever done.
The testimony came on the third day of a civil trial involving Jon David Couzens, who says O’Brien sexually abused him 30 years ago and that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was told repeatedly that O’Brien was a danger to children but failed to prevent the abuse.
“I expected some sort of response and some sort of censure,” said Kansas City marketing professional Pat O’Neill after telling jurors that O’Brien had groped him at a Halloween party in 1973. O’Neill, who was 20 at the time, said he wrote then-Bishop Charles Helmsing in 1975 but never received a response. He contacted the diocese again in 1979, through a phone call and a letter to auxiliary Bishop George Fitzsimons.
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