Michael Wegs

Matthew Cosby

Christopher Dixon

John Doe I

John Doe IV

6 May 2004

Dear Fellow Alumni and Friends of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary:

We were sexually abused by Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell as devout, impressionable and vulnerable young boys just beginning our studies for the priesthood at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, MO (STAS).

Sadly, we know we are not alone. We suspect there may be dozens of us still suffering in secrecy, silence, shame, and self-blame. Statistics and medical research tell us that a serial sexual predator averages 150 victims throughout his career career. And O’Connell supervised the education of than 100 youngsters, adolescents, and young men on an annual basis for more than 30 years as vocation director for the Diocese of Jefferson City and as a teacher and the spiritual director and rector at STAS.

We feel duty-bound to you, who have been wounded, as we have to begin helping each other break through our isolation and pain. Together we can
begin to heal one another.

Today, in conjunction with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), we are launching a nationwide effort to reach out to the “lost sheep”
of St. Thomas. To those who were victimized not only by O’C, but also by several other predators who taught at the seminary. Multiple civil suits are pending against O’Connell, Manus Daly, Gary Pool (a former priest and STAS faculty member), and Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe, who protected O’Connell throughout his career and then vigorously promoted the candidacy of this known criminal predator as the spiritual leader of the new diocese of Knoxville.

This letters is being sent to former STAS students and others who worked at
or were associated with the school. Bishop John R. Gaydos and the Diocese of Jefferson City have refused to provide us with the alumni mailing list. We find

4227 Pleasant Avenue SouthMinneapolis, Minnesota 55409612-823-4576

his behavior alarming and sad, considering the fact that he is a member of
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee and a
co-author of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

So if you were sexually exploited or abused by O’Connell or any other STAS faculty member, we hope you will find the strength to contact us. We know, from painful first-hand experience, that staying silent is dangerous, and that reaching out to others for support is healthy. Each of us began to recover when we sought therapy and spoke up. When we stopped acting ashamed, we stopped feeling ashamed.

Please copy this letter and send it to others you know attended St. Thomas. Some of you will receive an electronic version; please circulate it as far and wide as the Internet allows.

If you did not experience such trauma, but know others who did, we ask that you continue to be our friends. Please help us to force the Diocese of Jefferson City to investigate St. Thomas and its faculty. Bishop Gaydos, like Bishop McAuliffe, has turned his back on us. He refuses to acknowledge any sense
of remorse or accountability for the crimes committed at STAS.

Please help us in our a quest for justice and truth.

Michael Wegs

Matthew Crosby

Chris Dixon

John Doe I

John Doe IV

If you witnessed or suspected such crimes, we beg you to contact:

Mike Wegs, Minneapolis, MN 612-823-4576 ()

David Clohessy, St. Louis, National Director, 314-566-9790 cell

Barbara Dorris, St. Louis, Outreach Coordinator, 314-862-7688