*** Simple Vows (Quarterly – July, 1989)
Brother Anthony (William) Ruff was born in 1963, and was raised on his family’s farm near Franklin, Minnesota. At Franklin High School he was class president, Future Farmers of America president, a band and choir member, and served as statistician for football and basketball. As it turned out, these activities did not always leave a lot of time to do farm work, he said.
In a new 4,200 word history on the Saint John’s Abbey web site [ View ] , a total of 40 words are spent on the sexual abuse scandal.
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COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (KMSP) – Family and friends are still searching for Josh Guimond, the St. John’s University student who was reported missing Nov. 10, 2002.
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At least six people, including at least a minor at the time, have alleged sexual misconduct by Father Finian McDonald, a monk at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota (USA). At least three other individuals have accused Father Finian McDonald of sexual harassment dating back to the mid-1960s.
Father David Ostrowski is a former monk at Saint John’s Abbey. Ostrowski was listed in the Abbey’s Ordo (a directory of monks) from 1986 until 2001. [ View ]
Fr. Licari’s dismissal from the board was due to an alleged incident of sexual misconduct. My recollection, from conversations with you and others, was that Fr. Licari was accused of making inappropriate contact with a minor while he served as pastor at Holy Name Parish in Medina, Minnesota. It is further my understanding that Fr. Licari did not dispute the contact, though (as one would expect) he disputed the intent.
Two monks from Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota (USA), Father Jonathan Licari and Father Dan Ward, have been linked to the sexual abuse scandal at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The Jacob Wetterling Resource Center is asking residents to leave a porch light on Tuesday in honor of Wetterling, who went missing 24 years ago.
Archbishop Harry Flynn, Abbot Timothy Kelly and Abbot John Klassen all knew of sexual abuse by Father Michael Bik long before the abuse was finally made public in 2006.
In a June of 2011, Father Jonathan Licari wrote to a victim of sexual abuse:
“There have been other credible allegations against Fr. Dominic and his name will be added to the list of other monks with credible allegations against them. We are in the process of up-dating our web-site and it may take until the end of the summer before his name appears but it will be added.”
Web Site Visitors…. Thank you for the recent tips regarding Father Phil Harrer, Father Bruce Wollmering, Father Finian McDonald, Father Andre Bennett, and Father Robert Blumeyer.
(StarTribune.com) Sometimes lists are posted online and then disappear. Such was the case with St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville. In the spring of 2011, the abbey became the first religious order in Minnesota to publicly release a list of monks who were credibly accused of sexual abuse. Digital publication of the list was part of a settlement of clergy abuse lawsuits. But the list disappeared from the abbey’s website in the summer of 2012…
Since 2002 [Bishop Donald Kettler] has served as bishop under the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks. As part of the diocese’s legal settlement with sexual abuse survivors, Kettler traveled to the villages of St. Michael and Stebbins in December 2010 to apologize on behalf of the church.
A bishop who has spent recent years in Alaska dealing with the repercussions of decades-old clergy sexual abuse has been appointed to lead the Diocese of St. Cloud.
Kettler occasionally visited St. John’s seminary, where he met Abbot John Klassen of St. John’s Abbey “on a number of occasions.” Klassen finds Kettler “open, flexible, pastoral.” They’d talk about faith, but also about the “very down-to-earth, practical realities” of managing a large diocese, Klassen said.
