Three weeks after the Vatican removed James Janssen from the priesthood, other clergy in the Davenport Catholic Diocese say he’s attended a workshop for prospective foster and adoptive parents. Janssen’s named in several lawsuits against the diocese that say he sexually abused children years ago. Diocese attorney Rand Wonio says another priest attending the seminar told the chancellor of the diocese about his concerns. He’d witnessed Janssen being there, and saw that he’d registered as “Reverend” James Janssen, though this happened after the official announcement that the Pope had laicized Janssen. That official announcement that Janssen was no longer a member of the clergy had come on September 24. Janssen is named in at least eight lawsuits charging sexual abuse by priests in the diocese, but Attorney Wonio says he is not registered as a sex offender under Iowa law. The attorney says you don’t register till you’ve been convicted of a criminal offense — and unfortunately all the known acts Janssen’s alleged to have committed happened years ago, and the statute of limitations has expired. The statute has a ten-year limit and Janssen hasn’t been accused of any abuse more recent than that. Wonio says the Bishop and other leaders in the diocese looked at a lot of information and talked with people who say they were molested, before making the recommendation that the priest be defrocked. He says their stories convinced the church leaders. He says that’s why they sent the paperwork off to the Pope in the Vatican, requesting that Janssen be laicized, saying they’ve received “a number of highly credible reports about the actions of abuse by Janssen, that we believe, and acted upon that, but unfortunately too late” for the victims. Janssen had retired from the priesthood
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