Local priest cleared of abuse charges

Quad City Times, Iowa/June18, 2016

By Deirdre Cox Baker

Three years after charges of clergy abuse were brought against him, the Rev. John Stack has been cleared by the Vatican and will work again in the Diocese of Davenport.

The findings were announced Friday by Deacon David Montgomery, the diocese's spokesman.

Stack was accused in 2013 of inappropriately touching minors in the 1980s. The charge was reported to the Scott County Attorney's Office, the process the diocese now uses in abuse cases. Stack was removed from his ministry at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton while the investigation went forward.

Bishop Martin Amos petitioned the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, requesting that Stack's case be brought to trial before three judges, none of whom is from the Davenport diocese.

The charges against Stack were found to be "not proven," without a finding of innocence or guilt. On appeal, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith concurred with the three judges' "not proven" decision.

Amos will reassign Stack to duties in the diocese, but he has not done so as yet, Montgomery said.

Stack first served at Holy Family in Davenport as a parochial vicar from 1988 to 1990. He has served as the chaplain at the Clinton hospital since 1994 and has served in various roles in churches in Keokuk, East Pleasant Plain, Richland, Clinton, Camanche, Lost Nation, Toronto, Oxford Junction, Sugar Creek, DeWitt, Charlotte and Grand Mound.

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