St. Louis Archdiocese to pay $1M to settle sex abuse lawsuit
The Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who said he was sexually abused by a priest at the Ascension Catholic Church in Chesterfield about 30 years ago.
The alleged abuse started in 1993 when the victim was in fourth grade and continued until 1995. The victim repressed any memories of the incidents until he was an adult, according to the lawsuit.
The victim, who was referred to as John Doe in court papers, was abused at least four times during those two years by the Rev. Gary Wolken — who has previously spent 12 years in prison for sexually abusing another boy. Wolken, who’s now 57, was sentenced to prison in 2003 for abusing a boy from 1997 to 2000.
John Doe says he began recovering repressed memories in 2013. He filed a lawsuit in 2018 alleging church officials failed to protect him. A trial was scheduled for September but the settlement was reached this week — signaling the plaintiff had a strong case.
On Thursday, a lawyer for the victim confirmed he has agreed to settle, adding he stands by the allegations.
“It appears to us that the archdiocese knows and acknowledged that there was wrongdoing here,” Rebecca Randles said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The archdiocese said in a statement that “the protection of children and vulnerable adults is our highest priority ... We are hopeful that this settlement provides some measure of comfort for the victim and for his family.”
In 2019, then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt released a report detailing the findings of a year-long investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests against minors in the state, calling it a “far-reaching, long-standing scandal.”
“For decades, faced with credible reports of abuse, the church refused to acknowledge the victims and instead focused their efforts on protecting priests,” Schmitt, a Republican who now serves as the junior U.S. senator from Missouri, said at the time.
With News Wire Services
