IOWA
The Hawk Eye
By CRAIG T. NEISES
cneises@thehawkeye.com
A sex abuse scandal of national scope came home to roost in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport in 2003, with numerous lawsuits filed accusing clergy of abuse.
As of mid–December, eight people were suing the diocese, claiming they had been the victims of abuse.
Several of the cases have ties to southeast Iowa.
In January, a Hamilton, Ill., man filed suit, claiming he was abused by a now–dead priest at the Church of All Saints in Keokuk between 1967 and 1970.
Then, in May, a Clinton County man sued for damages after claiming he was abused in the 1960s by a priest who also served at churches in Burlington and Fort Madison. And in July, Monsignor Drake Shafer, vicar general of the diocese, was accused in a lawsuit by a man now living in West Burlington of molesting him while a parish priest in Fort Madison.
Shafer stepped aside as No. 2 cleric in the diocese while he answers the charge.
In August, Monsignor John Hyland, of SS. John and Paul in Burlington, was appointed interim co–vicar general to fulfill a portion of Shafer’s duties during his leave of absence.
