KHBT — The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City has released the names of 28 priests he says were credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors while serving in the diocese. Bishop R. Walker Nickless held a news conference in Sioux City earlier this week.
“To all victims of such abuse as well as advocates and supporters of survivors, I am profoundly sorry for the suffering you have endured,” Nickless said. “As abuse survivors and their advocates have pointed out, apologies are not enough.”
Twenty-two of the 28 priests on the list have died. The remaining six men named on the list are no longer priests and only one is living in Iowa. Father Brad Pelzel, the vicar general of the Sioux City Diocese, said under current practice, any accusation against a priest is immediately turned over to local law enforcement for investigation. Staff and volunteers in the diocese now undergo extensive background checks, according to Pelzel.
A seven-member review board investigated allegations against priests in the Sioux City Diocese dating back to 1902, when the diocese was founded. Storm Lake Police Chief Mark Prosser served on the review board and spoke at the news conference.
Prosser said many of the priests on the list were never formally charged, but the evidence was deemed credible that they had committed acts of abuse.
The two Humboldt priests were Verne Peter Stapenhorst who served as the Sacramental Minister in residence at St. Mary Parish and Joseph Edward Tolan, who was a Pastor at St. Mary’s from 1963-1974.
To be clear, it was not released that the men committed any illegal acts in Humboldt — just at some point in their career.
The full list can be seen it’s entirety here: https://scdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/The-Diocese-of-Sioux-City-List-of-Credibly-Accused-Priestsb.pdf