Collegeville – St. John’s Abbey named eight members of its nine-person External Review Board on Tuesday.
The board’s responsibilities include advising the abbey regarding how to respond compassionately and effectively to survivors of sexual abuse and to minimize the possibility of recurrence of abusive behavior.
Abbot John Klassen created the board as part of a legal settlement announced Oct. 1.
Four members selected by Klassen are: David Baraga, St. Cloud; David Farrington, Burnsville; Catherine Lally, St. Paul; and the Rev. Jonathan Licari, St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.
Four members selected by St. Paul lawyer Jeffrey Anderson, who negotiated the settlement, are: Charles Flinn, Jr., St. Cloud; Susan Fuchs-Hoeschen, Sauk Rapids; Patrick Marker, Mount Vernon, Wash.; Janet Robert, Stillwater.
The eight board members expect to select a ninth member by June 30.
The abbey provided these biographies of the board members:
David Baraga
Baraga is the Central Minnesota Mental Health Center executive director. He has been a practicing psychologist for more than 30 years, specializing in the treatment of victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse. He graduated from Marquette University in 1963 and received his master’s and doctorate from the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) in clinical psychology.
In addition to his work in the area of clinical psychology, he served in the Peace Corps in Nepal, in the U.S. Foreign Service in Vietnam and as a Field Representative for CARE, Inc., in Tunis, Jerusalem and Gaza.
David Farrington
Farrington is Burnsville’s chief of police.
After graduating from St. John’s University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in government, he joined the Burnsville Police Department as a trainee. He became a lieutenant in 1978 and captain in 1991. In 1989, he graduated from the 158th Session of the FBI National Academy. In 1992, he obtained a master’s in public safety education and administration from the University of St. Thomas.
In January 1998, Farrington became Burnsville’s chief of police and leads a nationally accredited 101-member police department.
He is also a member of the Police Executive Research Forum based in Washington.
Charles Flinn
Flinn is a Windom native who graduated from Yale University in 1962 with a bachelor’s in history and in 1965, from the University of Minnesota Law School. He practiced law with a general practice firm in St. Paul for 15 years, and in 1980, was appointed to the bench by then Gov. Al Quie.
Re-elected several times, Flinn retired in 1992 after 22 years as district court judge. His judicial work was in all areas, but with special emphasis on family and juvenile matters.
He is married to Judge Elizabeth Hayden, who works in St. Cloud.
Susan Fuchs-Hoeschen
Fuchs-Hoeschen, a licensed independent clinical social worker, is a lifelong resident of the St. Cloud area. She is a mental health professional working in the adult mental health unit at St. Cloud Hospital and a survivor of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.
Fuchs-Hoeschen received her bachelor’s in social work from St. Cloud State University in 1987 and a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1992.
She is a wife, mother of two daughters and works daily with survivors of sexual abuse as an advocate for justice and healing for victims, supporters and faith communities.
Catherine Lally
Lally is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She graduated from the College of St. Benedict in 1977, received her master’s in family social science from the University of Minnesota in 1990 and completed her doctoral work in family social science at the University of Minnesota in 1993.
Lally is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota, St. Mary’s University and Bethel Seminary, where she has taught such courses as marriage and family therapy theory, human sexuality and child-centered family therapy.
Lally is a therapist in private practice and at Washburn Child Guidance Center. She has worked with families who have experienced intrafamilial sexual abuse, has presented workshops and lectures on multiple aspects of sexuality and has published research on sexual meaning during engagement and marriage.
Jonathan Licari
Licari, of the Order of St. Benedict, is a monk of St. John’s Abbey. He was ordained for the Diocese of Duluth in 1976. After several years in parish ministry, he entered the monastery and made his first vows in 1982.
His obtained his bachelor’s from St. Francis College in Fort Wayne, Ind., and his Master of Divinity from the School of Theology Seminary of St. John’s University.
In 1989, Licari received his doctorate in Canon Law from St. Paul’s University, Ottawa, Ontario. He taught theology and Canon Law at St. John’s University and served on the Marriage Tribunal of the Diocese of St. Cloud. From 1989 to 1994, he served as Prior of the monastery.
He is pastor of Holy Name Parish in Medina.
Patrick Marker
Marker is a 1983 graduate of St. John’s Preparatory School and a 1986 graduate of Jamestown College in North Dakota.
After teaching for nine years in the Minneapolis area, he returned to the Seattle area to work in the technology sector and is working as an Internet consultant.
Marker has been an outspoken critic of St. John’s and its handling of the sexual abuse scandal that affected not only him but several of his classmates.
In 2002, he created the online Abuse Disclosure Project (www.abusedisclosureproject.com) to provide information and support for victims of sexual abuse at St. John’s.
Janet Robert
Robert is a longtime Stillwater resident and a member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church.
She co-founded Hope House of St. Croix Valley (a foster care home for persons with AIDS) and the St. Croix Valley Christians in Action (a faith-based community service organization). She has volunteered with the St. Croix Valley Life Care Center, Tubman Family Alliance and the United Way.
In 1994, Robert was elected to the Oak Park Heights City Council and later appointed to the Washington County Corrections Advisory Committee and the Workforce Center Board.
She graduated cum laude from Notre Dame University and St. Louis University Law School. She is the founder of the Minnesota chapter of Democrats for Life and is counsel to a variety of nonprofit organizations.
Review board includes law enforcement, health officials
By Kristin Gustafson kgustafson@stcloudtimes.com
St. Cloud (MN) Times
June 18, 2003
