Residents near center for troubled priests worry about property values

Dittmer, Mo.

A quiet street and a quaint three-bedroom home drew Mike Stenzhorn and his family to Dittmer 15 years ago. He and his two children loved the neighborhood in the small community 40 miles southwest of St. Louis.

They didn't put much thought to the Roman Catholic facility across the street -- a small complex of buildings called the Vianney Renewal Center.

Stenzhorn knew the center had something to do with helping struggling priests. In any case, it seemed harmless, and the neighborhood was nice.

"If you had to live somewhere in the Midwest, and you wanted quiet, this is the place," Stenzhorn, 62, said.

But in the years that would follow, the full truth about the Vianney Renewal Center would come to light.

The facility, operated by a Roman Catholic order called the Servants of the Paraclete, cares for religious men who suffer from a variety of illnesses, including alcoholism and depression. The center also treats sexually abusive priests.

The Servants of the Paraclete would not specify how many such priests live at the center today. The Missouri State Highway Patrol's sex offender registry lists five who are convicted and who stay at the complex under court order. Other priests are sent to the center by various dioceses from around the country.

"They're putting guys there when they don't know what else to do with them," said Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

'It's like they were hiding something'

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Residents near center for troubled priests worry about property values