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St. Louis, Mo., Aug 30, 2022 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Following a judge’s decision last week, a priest serving in St. Louis who was previously accused of abusing children before the prosecution dropped all charges will have his 2014 arrest record erased.
Prosecutors dismissed all charges in each of the cases against Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang’s, 39, alleged sexual abuse incidents. Jiang also won two civil court cases involving the allegations.
On August 25, Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser decided that Jiang had satisfied the requirements to have his 2014 arrest dismissed. Jiang said at his hearing that he is presently studying in Rome and that he has had difficulties at customs checks while going overseas because of his arrest history.
2010 saw the ordination of Jiang, a Shandong, China, native, as a priest in St. Louis. When a 16-year-old girl filed a civil action saying that the priest had grabbed her, he was first accused of abuse in public. Jiang refuted the allegations, and a jury in 2017 decided in his favor.
The alleged child endangerment and witness tampering allegations were dismissed as criminal charges in 2013, but Jiang’s arrest in connection with that case is still included on his record, and he is reportedly attempting to get that arrest wiped as well.
The priest was criminally accused of assaulting a youngster in a Catholic school lavatory in 2011 and 2012; he and the St. Louis Archdiocese vehemently rejected the allegations. The priest was prosecuted in 2014. Later, without providing any justification, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce dismissed all charges in 2015.
After the charges against him were made public, Jiang countersued the family of the male purported victim, St. Louis police, and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), citing racial and religious prejudice in the false accusations. The boy’s parents “had a history of making spurious accusations against the Catholic Church for financial benefit,” according to the lawsuit, the boy’s parents.
2016 saw a court declare that SNAP had “negligently and recklessly disdain for the truth” produced false representations. When the case was finally resolved, SNAP apologized to Jiang for “any misleading or erroneous comments” as part of the settlement.
The SNAP defendants detest the idea of someone being wrongfully accused of a crime. Untrue claims of clergy sexual abuse do exist, it must be said. The SNAP defendants acknowledged that all proceedings and claims against Fr. Joseph Jiang had either been rejected or decided in his favor and that they had no firsthand knowledge of the complaints made against him.
After parents voiced their worries about the claims against Jiang, then-Archbishop Robert Carlson canceled Jiang’s appointment to St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in 2018, which has a K–8 school. He was then given the position of parochial vicar at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, and as recently as January 2020, he was still listed in the bulletin as such.
By the time of publication, the archdiocese had not responded to CNA’s request for more comment.