Mom of abuse victim feels ‘relief’ from archdiocese list
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WISH) — An Indiana mom said she felt “relief” after hearing the Archdiocese of Indianapolis released a list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.
Missi Limcaco said her late son, Danny, was one of the victims.
The list released Thursday names more than 20 priests, including Harry Monroe, who worked in several cities, including Indianapolis and Terre Haute.
Limcaco said Danny was one of Monroe’s 16 victims recognized by the archdiocese.
“He (Danny) told me the story. And he just shook and turned white as a sheet, and sweat just rolled off of him,” Limcaco said.
Limcaco said the abuse happened around 1979 when Danny was 15 and Monroe was at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Terre Haute.
She said she’s hoped since the 1990s that the archdiocese would release a list of predator priests.
Danny died of suicide at age 19.
“We struggled for so long just to get people to listen, and it validates the survivors,” Limcaco said. “You call them victims, but we call them survivors.”
In a 2007 WISH-TV story, a 42-year-old man said Monroe had abused him as a child.
“I was a little kid,” the man said. “I was scared to death.”
Former WISH-TV reporter Leslie Olsen reported that, according to a deposition, Monroe admitted to molesting young boys when he served three local parishes in the 1970s and 1980s.
The archdiocese list released Thursday does not name parishes where the priests worked.
News 8 has requested an interview with Archbishop Charles C. Thompson and had not heard back on Friday.
Attorney Patrick Noacker said he helped 12 victims’ families reach a settlement years after Monroe abused the kids. Monroe never faced criminal charges.
“That was what my son said to me one day. ‘I don’t know who I can trust and who I can’t,’” Limcaco said.
According to Limcaco, what the Catholic Church needs now is transparency.
“They need to be open, and if they’re open, they’ll be all right,” she said.
Limcaco said her other son also took his own life after Danny died.
She said, last she heard, Monroe lived in Tennessee. She’s not sure if he is still alive.