Two Clergymen No Longer Allowed To Practice
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
A crime involving children and the Catholic Church hits home in Southwest Missouri. A spokesperson with the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese says two former Joplin clergymen are no longer allowed to practice as priests in the church for alleged indiscretions with children. They are Leonard R. Chambers, the former pastor of St. Peter`s Church in Joplin and Larry Gregovich, the former pastor at St. Mary`s Church, also in Joplin. Diocese spoksperson Marilyn Vydra says chambers molested a teen age boy back in 1982 while working at a Springfield church. As a condition of his rehabilitation, Chambers was not allowed to be alone with minors. But she says he violated that condition during his tenure at St. Peter`s, which ended in 1998. Gregovich dismissal stems from when officials say he molested a young boy in 1982 while at a parish in new Madrid Missouri. Gregovich was removed as pastor at St. Mary`s in 1992. Officials says the family`s victims in both cases ask not to have details of the incidents publicized. No parishioners in Joplin were victimized. Neither men could be reached for comment.
