Roman Catholic diocese covered up priest’s sexual abuse of 50 boys
FORT DODGE, IOWA » A Roman Catholic diocese has hidden for decades a priest’s admission that he sexually abused dozens of Iowa boys, a silence that may have put other children in danger, The Associated Press has learned.
The Rev. Jerome Coyle, 85, was stripped of his parish assignments in the 1980s but has never been defrocked or publicly identified by the church as a pedophile, even though the Diocese of Sioux City has been aware of his conduct for 32 years.
With diocese assistance, Coyle recently moved into a retirement home in Fort Dodge, Iowa, across the street from a Catholic school attended by hundreds of
students.
In 1986, Coyle reported his “history of sexual attraction to and contact with boys” to Sioux City’s bishop, revealing that he had victimized 50 youngsters over a 20-year period while serving in several Iowa parishes, according to a private letter written in February by the diocese vicar general and obtained by the AP.
After Coyle’s admission, the diocese said without explanation that he was taking a six-month medical leave of absence. Church officials transferred him to a treatment center in New Mexico, the Servants of the Paraclete, where other accused priests nationwide were once commonly sent.
He was stripped of his ability to lead Mass and other responsibilities and never got another parish assignment. But he never faced further punishment and lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, until recently, retaining the title “father” and collecting financial assistance from the diocese.
Coyle is unlikely to be prosecuted for any of his long-ago offenses because the statute of limitation has run out. And he has not yet been named in any civil suits.
He has not been publicly accused of molesting any minors in the past three decades, but lawyers and detectives are looking into what he has been up to since 1986.