St. Joseph Priest Sued For Alleged Sexual Abuse Half Century Ago

A 90-year old priest living in St. Joseph is being sued by a man from the state of California who says the priest abused him 50 years ago. A lawsuit filed by Thomas Dorrell says Father Sylvester Hoppe abused him for three years, starting when Dorrell was 12. Hoppe’s lawyer says the priest denies the allegations. The lawsuit also names the the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese and the St. Louis archidiocese among the defendants. The suit says officials in those organizations knew about the incidents and conspired to hide them. A spokesman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese says it investigated the allegations in April and banned Hoppe from publicly celebrating mass and other sacraments.