Two accusers reach settlement with Bishop O'Connell

Published: 2004-07-29

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Two men who claim that resigned Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell molested them in a high school seminary said July 26 that they have reached an out-of-court settlement with the bishop and the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo. The Survivor's Network for those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, called a press conference in St. Louis to announce the agreement. SNAP said that according to the terms of the settlement Matthew Cosby of St. Louis is to receive $5,000 from Bishop O'Connell and $27,000 from the diocese, and Michael J. Wegs of Minneapolis is to receive $5,000 from the bishop and $20,000 from the diocese. Bishop O'Connell, now 66, has been living at a monastery since he abruptly resigned as bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., in March 2002. When he resigned he publicly acknowledged inappropriate conduct with minors while he was at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, the Jefferson City diocesan high school seminary in Hannibal. He was spiritual director there in 1968-70 and rector in 1970-88. His admission and resignation -- the first by a bishop less than two months after the eruption of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in Boston -- helped fuel the nationwide crisis that forced major reforms in the way the church deals with sexually abusive priests.

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