A judge has ordered the Archdiocese of St. Louis to produce two decades worth of internal documents on sexual abuse allegations.

“Thomas J. Prebil is only the second judge to attempt to compel the archdiocese to hand over such an extensive number of records.

“The order, released earlier this week (week of Mar. 9), is part of a civil lawsuit filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court involving the parents of a man from Florissant who sued the archdiocese over the suicide of their son …

“The documents are needed in order to show that the archdiocese had a pattern of reassigning problem priests, plaintiff lawyers argue.

“The records are also essential in proving that the archdiocese made such reassignments knowing they would almost certainly lead to further harm — the burden of proof plaintiff lawyers in Missouri need to meet in sexual abuse lawsuits involving priests such as (Bryan) Kuchar.”

By Lilly Fowler, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Click here to read the rest of this story.