Iowa's corner of the sex abuse crisis

The Vatican has defrocked a retired Iowa priest accused of sexually assaulting several Waterloo Columbus High School boys in the 1960s and '70s.

Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus on Thursday announced that Pope Benedict XVI had removed William Schwartz from the clergy in November, and the process was finished in December.

Schwartz, 73, who is believed to be living in Arizona, is the second Iowa priest to be defrocked in the sex abuse scandal that has swept the U.S. Roman Catholic Church since 2000.
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Read the complete article Vatican defrocks retired Dubuque priest from DesMoinesRegister.com.

This piece from Sioux City's paper has a more general look at the report and everyone included in it.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque said in a report that 20 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children have been filed in recent months involving eight priests.

The annual report, dated Jan. 4, summarizes activities involving allegations of abuse in the past year and names the priests.

Lawsuits have been filed in recent months against the archdiocese in connection with the Revs. Albert Carman, Albert Forster, William Goltz, Patrick McElliott, John Peters, William Roach, John Schmitz and William Schwartz, the report said.

Read the complete article Dubuque Archdiocese releases report on clergy abuse from The Sioux City Journal.

One article I read awhile ago in the Davenport Diocese's paper was about a priest who had been removed from active ministry and had relocated to St. Louis. The diocese dispatched a deacon to go find him down there and check up.