Within the final 12 months, the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville has been hit with two lawsuits alleging improper investigations into sexual assault complaints. These lawsuits cracked open the internal workings of the diocese.
In the middle of reporting on the lawsuits, Knox Information has revealed various articles detailing totally different elements of how the diocese has, and has not, held itself accountable.
Here’s a take a look at the findings of Knox Information’ investigation.
John Doe is a placeholder identify within the lawsuit to guard the establish of a former church worker who alleged a diocesan seminarian raped him. It additionally particulars how the church, led by Bishop Richard Stika, interfered with the investigation and labored to discredit him.
Jane Doe is a placeholder identify in a lawsuit to guard the identification of the lady, a Honduran asylum seeker residing in Gatlinburg who alleges the Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal, of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, groped her whereas he endorsed her after the loss of life of the daddy of her toddler.
The girl alleges the diocese labored to discredit and intimidate her. Punnackal was later indicted by a Sevier County grand jury on two counts of sexual battery.
As the 2 lawsuits swirled across the diocese, officials received an apostolic visit late last year. These visits are sometimes ordered by church authorities to dig into the non secular well-being of a diocese.
Apostolic visitations typically are a signal that church leaders are concerned about a matter and provides them an opportunity to talk immediately with individuals concerned.
Two individuals who performed key roles in a evaluation by the diocese into whether or not a seminarian raped a diocesan worker in 2019 instructed Knox Information that Stika interfered by firing the investigator, independently confirming allegations which can be detailed in a lawsuit by the person who says he was sexually assaulted.
The person who changed the investigator reportedly solely interviewed the previous worker and never the alleged sufferer.
Three months after the diocese and Stika had been named in the explosive sexual abuse lawsuit, leaders made the church’s sexual abuse review board meetings much more secretive, together with requiring members to signal nondisclosure agreements and disallowing notice taking.
For roughly 10 months after the loss of life of the diocese’s longtime sufferer help coordinator, the diocese leaders replaced the person with a top church official, not a licensed therapist. In December, the diocese and native nonprofit, the McNabb Middle, entered right into a contract to offer third-party reporting providers.
A spokesperson for the church mentioned no complaints had been made within the interim.
Going in opposition to the norms of the Catholic Church, Stika was listed as a member of the evaluation board that investigates allegations of sexual misconduct, a transfer the diocese referred to as an oversight.
What’s extra, the diocese’s lawyer also is a member of the review board, that means the identical particular person is concurrently defending the diocese and conducting what’s alleged to be an unbiased investigation into the allegation.
A spokesperson for the diocese has mentioned he’s “assured that no conflicts exist beneath the info of the case.”
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter targeted on accountability journalism. Join with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Observe him on Twitter @tyler_whetstone. Make our neighborhood, our society and our republic stronger by supporting sturdy native journalism. Subscribe on-line at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
