At least four claims made in the St. John’s Abbey “Statement on Father Francisco Schulte” (May 18, 2010) [ View ] are blatantly false or contradict other statements made by the Abbey:
1. The Abbey Statement claims that, “From that time [1992] through June of 2002, Father Francisco was living at Saint John’s Abbey with “prudent, non-risk” limitations on his ministry.”
According to their own publications, Schulte was in Rome in 1992 [ View ]. Schulte did not return from Rome until February of 1994 [ View ]. When he did return, he taught college students in the School of Theology and worked, “in diocesan locales in multi-cultural ministry.” [ View ].
It is also well documented that from June of 1997 until 2000, Fr. Schulte was in the Bahamas, working with young oblates [ View ] and that a, “new area of service is [Schulte’s] ministry to the local Spanish-language community in the Bahamas.” [ View ]
When Fr. Schulte returned from the Bahamas, Fr. Shulte was provided unrestricted access, along with offender Fr. Allen Tarlton, unrestricted access to a group of young men in the Oblate program [ View ].
Note: Based on the Abbey’s timeline, Fr. Francisco Schulte was likely on campus at the time of Josh Guimond’s disappearance in November of 2002. It is unknown if the Abbey made known Fr. Schulte’s history as a sex offender – and his recent work with college students – or if Fr. Schulte was interviewed by the authorities.
2. The Abbey Statement claims that, “In June of 2003, Father Francisco Schulte took a three-year canonical leave”.
In December of 2003, however, Fr. Schulte was referred to as “a scholar at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.” in an article about Our Lady of Guadalupe [ View ].
3. The Abbey Statement claims that, “From 1980-1983 and from 1986-1988, Father Francisco served as chaplain at Saint John’s Preparatory School.”
We believe that Fr. Schulte may have been in Puerto Rico until the summer of 1981. According to several sources, however, Fr. Schulte left the Prep School in December of 1987 (not in the summer of 1988) following the alleged abuse of a Prep School student [ View ].
4. The Abbey Statement claims that, “In February of 1992, Abbot Jerome Theisen received an allegation of inappropriate sexual behavior with a minor in 1984 by Father Francisco Schulte. From that time through June of 2002, Father Francisco was living at Saint John’s Abbey with “prudent, non-risk” limitations on his ministry.”
According to a document received by this web site on Tuesday, Abbot John Klassen claimed (in 2004) that there was “nothing in the files” regarding sexual misconduct by Fr. Francisco Schulte.
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Based on their own timeline, the Abbey covered up abuse committed by Fr. Francisco Schulte for at least 18 years, refusing to contact potential victims, even while calling on the victims of other monks (most recently, Robert Blumeyer) [ View ] to come forward.
St. John’s Abbey continues to disappoint with their lack of concern for the victims of abuse and the ease with which they attempt to deceive.
Patrick J Marker
info@behindthepinecurtain.com
360-421-5849
See Also: Caught in a Coverup
