Public Safety · Kansas City, KS
Archdiocese Restricts Ministry of Priest Once Charged With Abusing Minor
Responding to a Vatican penal precept, Archbishop Shawn McKnight of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas placed restrictions on Rev. Scott Kallal's ministry, prohibiting parish assignments and contact with minors or women. Kallal was arrested in July 2017 in Wyandotte County and charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a minor stemming from alleged 2015 incidents; the criminal trial ended in a hung jury and the case was dismissed by the district attorney in 2021. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith found insufficient evidence of a crime but determined a penal precept was necessary, which took effect in October 2026. Kallal is now assigned to groundskeeping at non-parish, non-school properties under supervision, and civil settlements were reached with the alleged victim's family.