Missouri
Missouri Catholic church finds priest guilty of soliciting sex during confession: 'Grave form of abuse'
A Missouri Catholic priest was found guilty by the church of soliciting sex from an adult during a confession, an act the church described as “a sacrilege” and a “grave form of abuse” that cannot be tolerated.
Father Ignazio Medina of the Diocese of Jefferson City is now prohibited from holding office in the church, hearing confessions and celebrating or leading Mass publicly without the explicit permission of his diocesan bishop, the diocese said in a statement.
The diocese received a report on April 15, 2022, through the diocese’s abuse hotline alleging sexual solicitation of an adult on the occasion of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Canon 1385 of the Code of Canon Law says a priest “who in the act, on the occasion, or under the pretext of confession solicits a penitent to sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict, by suspension, prohibitions, privations; and in more grave cases, he is to be dismissed from the clerical state.”
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A Missouri Catholic priest was found guilty by the church of soliciting sex from an adult during a confession. (Diocese of Jefferson City)
Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City launched an investigation after learning of the report and placed temporary restrictions on Medina, including banning him from hearing confessions and from being alone with anyone other than his family on church property.
Medina, who served as a priest at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Ozark, was found guilty by decree by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome on Nov. 27, 2023. Medina did not appeal the decision.
“I want to be clear that sexual solicitation during confession is a sacrilege, a crime in our Church, and a grave form of abuse; it cannot be tolerated,” McKnight said. “With God’s help we must work to continue to eradicate abuse from all corners of our Church. Please join me in prayer for all who are left in pain and confusion when a trusted leader abuses their position of sacred trust and power for sinful purposes.”
“I have met with Father Medina to express my concerns and informed him he will not be allowed to celebrate or concelebrate Mass publicly except for funeral Masses of his immediate family, at the gathering of priests at their annual conference in October, and at the Chrism Mass during Holy Week,” he continued.
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Father Ignazio Medina of the Diocese of Jefferson City is prohibited from holding office in the church, hearing confessions and celebrating or leading Mass publicly without the explicit permission of his diocesan bishop. (Diocese of Jefferson City)
Medina remains a priest of the Diocese of Jefferson City and continues to receive support as a retired priest, the diocese said.
“I thank the victim in this case for stepping forward, and I pray for healing,” McKnight said. “I also thank all who helped during the investigation and disciplinary process. In addition, I am very grateful for our clergy, parish staff and parishioners who are dedicated to ensuring our diocesan Safe Environment protocols are followed. As we move forward together, I seek the renewal of our Church by facing the awful reality of abuse with the hope and grace of the Gospel which provides the healing we all need.”
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This comes after Medina was found guilty in April 2023 of abuse of ecclesiastical power after transferring roughly $300,000 in parish funds to personal accounts.
Missouri
Most Missouri state and Columbia offices closed Friday; Columbia parking meters will not be enforced during Fourth of July weekend | 93.9 The Eagle
Most Missouri state and county offices are closed Friday to observe the Fourth of July holiday.
Most state offices are closed except emergency services like the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The Fourth of July is one of Missouri’s 13 state holidays. County courthouses are also closed today, so there is no court.
Most Columbia city offices are closed as well, except emergency services like police and fire. Columbia sanitation employees will be collecting residential and commercial trash Friday morning, and the landfill will be open to the public with normal operating hours.
Columbia’s Go COMO bus system will operate on its normal schedule on Friday. While Go COMO won’t operate fixed-route or paratransit service on Saturday, they will run shuttles between downtown Columbia parking garages and Stephens Lake park Saturday evening from 5-11 pm for the Fire in the Sky celebration.
Parking enforcement in city parking garages and at on-street parking spaces is suspended from Friday through Sunday.
What it means: The Fourth of July is one of Missouri’s 13 official state holidays. The holiday will be observed on Friday, since the 4th is on a Saturday this year.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council voted Thursday to begin an effort to restore the once-grand Federal Reserve building on Grand Avenue in the city’s downtown.
Courtesy of Alicia M Brady, Urban Alicia Photography
The council approved an ordinance that directs KCMO City Manager Mario Vasquez to begin the receivership process “for the vacant nuisance property known as the former Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.”
The building closed in 2008 and neglect followed the closure, according to a docket memo to the city council that lays out problems with the building.
You can read the docket memo below.
“The site’s vacancy and nuisance conditions directly and increasingly depreciate the value of nearby properties and depress regional commercial activity; and residents and property owners near the site lament the nearly two decades of inactivity and decomposition, citing both aesthetic and security concerns involving the site’s crumbling exterior, graffiti covering the interior, broken glass and refuse strewn throughout, exposed ceilings with materials left dangling, an unsecured elevator shaft, and the site’s serving as a haven for squatting, fires, and other chronic nuisance activities; and the city has received multiple reports of property violations at the site over time, including falling debris and people entering through unsecured entrances, and the current developer’s failure to prevent and remediate these nuisances violates Code of Ordinances Sections 48-31 and 48-46(c), among other provisions.”
A developer bought the site in 2013, and the city approved a financial incentive deal in 2016 for the developer to build a 284-room hotel, a 450-space parking garage and a 40,000-square-foot family entertainment center.
The cost of the development was estimated at $182 million, but after investing $42 million in asbestos removal and interior demolition by April 2021, no other progress has been made on the project.
In 2022, the current developer got a temporary restraining order to avoid foreclosure after a default notice “alleging failure to maintain property insurance, unpaid property taxes, and outstanding mechanic’s liens,” according to a docket memo.
KSHB 41 News reached out to Alicia Brady, an Iowa-based photographer whose work includes photographs of the building’s decay.
Courtesy of Alicia M Brady, Urban Alicia Photography
“I was thrilled to learn that the mayor came across my post and photographs and that they helped spark action toward getting the former Federal Reserve building back on track for rehabilitation,” Brady said in an email to KSHB 41 News. “As someone who has been documenting abandoned and historic buildings since I was 15 years old, it’s incredibly rewarding to know that my work may have played a small part in preserving such an important piece of Kansas City’s history.”
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on LinkedIn about Thursday’s council action.
“Since 2008, the old Federal Reserve Bank building has sat empty, left open to the elements, vandals, fires, neglect and decay,” Mayor Lucas said. “ No more. We’re taking action to ensure accountability from property owners and new life in this tower in the heart of our downtown.”
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Missouri
Missouri Partners With Trump Administration To Speed Nuclear, Infrastructure Projects – Missourinet
Missouri is taking another step toward expanding nuclear energy and other major infrastructure projects through a new partnership with the federal government.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday with the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council at Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center near Steedman. The agreement is designed to better coordinate state and federal reviews, reduce permitting delays and increase transparency for major projects.
Kehoe said the partnership supports Missouri’s efforts to move quickly on future energy development, particularly nuclear energy.
“Missouri is proud to join four other states in signing the MOU, and we appreciate the Trump administration for helping us out to get to this goal, which, if you’ve been around me at all, you understand we don’t work at bureaucratic speed. We like business speed,” Kehoe said.
Under the agreement, Missouri will work with the Permitting Council to identify priority infrastructure projects and align state and federal review timelines. Federal officials say the partnership will help streamline project approvals while avoiding duplication between agencies.
The agreement comes as Missouri leaders continue exploring the future of nuclear energy. In May, Kehoe created a nuclear energy task force to examine how nuclear power can support the state’s long-term energy reliability and economic growth.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Kurt Schaefer said the state is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity.
“We’re right at this culmination of having the right people in the state of Missouri and having the right people in Washington, D.C. to really try and bring not only Missouri, but the country really up to speed on everything from energy development, particularly nuclear, to critical mineral development that really have been kind of languishing for a lot of years,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said the agreement could help remove delays that have slowed major projects in the past.
“With the Department of Natural Resources, the speed of business gets T-boned by the speed of the federal government. So, this couldn’t have come at a better time to get these reports out of how we can advance both nuclear energy and critical minerals and then work with the federal government to make sure that we don’t have any bureaucratic slowdowns on that end,” he said.
The Trump administration is using the agreement process to work directly with states on critical infrastructure projects. Missouri is the fifth state to sign an agreement with the Permitting Council, joining Alaska, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah.
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