2001

Parents told Memphis church officials that Duran had sexually abused their son when he was 14 years old at the Church of the Ascension. “Church officials took actions against the priests but did not report the allegations to agencies that might have launched criminal investigations,” according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. (Attorney Gary K. Smith  represents the accuser.)

July 2004

Duran's accuser, now 18, filed a civil suit against Duran, the Memphis diocese and the Dominican order.

 Sept. 2004

 In St. Louis, the Post Dispatch reports that prosecutors get an arrest warrant for Duran, on a criminal charge of sodomizing a St. Louis boy, now 15,  between 1999 and 2002, When Duran worked at St. Francis de Sales parish. The paper says that federal officials are investigating a report that Duran also abused a boy in Chicago.

In Memphis, church lawyers admit Duran abused the Memphis boy and that he admitted to church officials in 2000 that he exposed himself to the teenager.

Early Dec. 2004

Memphis Catholic church officials publicly claim some child sexual abuse allegations against clergy don’t have to be reported to police.

Mid-Dec. 2004

The Memphis Assistant District Attorney General Kevin Rardin publicly blasts Memphis Catholic church officials for not reporting child sexual abuse allegations against Duran and another priests to authorities “even though church officials have acknowledged wrongdoing by both priests,” according to the Commercial Appeal.

Jan. 2005

After meeting with the DA, the diocese agrees to report “all past and future allegations of sexual abuse involving minors by priests and other clergy or employees for criminal investigation”

For more information:

Fr. John J. Geaney, PR director for the Diocese of Memphis 901 373 1200

 Other Memphis Diocese officials: John Morris 901 373 1230, Pam Flynn 901 373 1272

Fr. Martin Gleeson, Prior Provincial of the Southern Dominican Province 504 837 2129