Ex-St. Alban Roe Priest Arrested on Sex Abuse Allegations
Father Charles "Robert" Manning, a former priest of St. Alban Roe Catholic Church in Wildwood, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexual assault on a child.
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A former priest of the St. Alban Roe Catholic Church in Wildwood was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexual assault of a 15-year-old Colorado Springs, CO, male, according to a Tuesday article published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. Father Charles "Robert" Manning served at St. Alban Roe from 1997 to 2001, prior to moving to Colorado Springs.
See February article in Eureka-Wildwood Patch: Ex-St. Alban Roe Priest Investigated in Colorado Sex Abuse Case
KSDK-TV St. Louis broadcasters reported on Tuesday's 10 p.m. newscast that Manning turned himself in after an arrest warrant was issued. Authorities indicated the incident happened Oct. 17, 2011. On Jan. 4, 2012, St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado asked him to step down after they were notified of the investigation, according to KSDK reports.
Manning, 77 years old, was booked into the El Paso County jail; he posted a bond of $10,000 Tuesday night.
Gazette reporter Ryan Maye Handy wrote in the Tuesday article a news release from the Diocese of Colorado Springs read: “A process has now begun. As it goes forward, there should be compassion and care for the alleged victim. There should be a presumption of innocence for the priest.”
Handy indicated in the article that details of Manning's arrest affidavit were sealed and not available to the public.
David Clohessy
9:17 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
We are grateful to police in Colorado for making this arrest. Children are always safer when predators are behind bars, and today we can be thankful that Fr. Charles Manning will be kept away from kids at least for a while.
Since he was credibly accused in January at his parish in Colorado Springs, Manning has “retired” from the priesthood. We believe this is a weak way of allowing church officials to wash their hands of Manning in case they hear of any other reports of abuse, whether in Colorado or dating back to Manning’s days in Missouri. We want church officials at both the Diocese of Colorado Springs and the Archdiocese of Saint Louis to aggressively seek out other people who may have witnessed Manning’s crimes or been subject to his impropriety.
Manning has worked at schools in Glencoe (St. Alban Roe, 1997-2001), Bridgeton (St. Lawrence the Martyr, 2002-2004), and Imperial (St. John Lateran, 2004-2007), which are all within the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Archbishop Robert Carlson should personally visit each of these schools and beg anyone who many have seen or suffered his crimes to come forward. He should also contact the parents of any child who was at the school during those years and make them aware that Manning was close to their children and urge them to find out if their child may have been victimized.
David Clohessy, SNAP Director
SNAPclohessy@aol.com, 314-566-9790
Julie Brown Patton
11:19 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
David Clohessy, thank you for providing SNAP's reaction to the matter.
Judy Jones
12:50 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
We hope that anyone who may have knowledge or who may have been harmed by Fr Charles Robert Manning, will have the courage to contact the police, not the church officials. The law enforcement are the proper officials to be investigating sex crimes against kids.
Also keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims.
SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org).