Archdiocese restricts ministry of Kansas priest once charged with abusing minor

Responding to a directive from the Vatican, the leader of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has placed restrictions on the ministry of a priest once charged with sexually abusing a minor. 

Archbishop Shawn McKnight ordered that the Rev. Scott Kallal “is prohibited from conduct with minors that could be reasonably understood as grooming, favoritism, inappropriate physical contact, or conduct that is likely to create scandal among the faithful.” 

Kallal also will not be assigned to parish ministry or be allowed to minister to minors or women, the archdiocese said in a statement issued online Monday in The Leaven, its official newspaper. 

The statement said Kallal has been assigned “to provide groundskeeping support.” 

The groundskeeping responsibilities, the archdiocese told The Star, “will be limited to general landscaping and maintenance at designated non-parish, non-school properties with access restrictions consistent with the conditions imposed.”