Msgr. Jerome Boxleitner (Updated)

Posted on March 16, 2013
Posted in Harry Flynn, Jerome Boxleitner, John Nienstedt, John Roach, Kevin McDonough, Mike O'Connell
[Updated March 18, 2013 @ 11:01pm]

This past Sunday, I had a conversation with a victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by Msgr. Jerome Boxleitner.  Boxleitner is not a monk from St. John’s but his name appears on this web site. Officials at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including Archbishop John Roach,  were provided with information about Boxleitner’s abuse beginning in 1989.

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Father Dan Ward vs Cardinal O’Brien

Posted on March 3, 2013
Posted in Dan Ward, Jason Berry, Keith O'Brien

Father Dan Ward and Saint John’s Abbey could learn from Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

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Backous Regarding Humility, Honesty

Posted on March 2, 2013
Posted in Tim Backous

In chapter seven of his Rule, Saint Benedict uses the Gospel of Matthew to concretize his teachings on humility: “In truth, those who are patient amid hardships and unjust treatment are fulfilling the Lord’s command: When struck on one cheek, they turn the other; when deprived of their coat, they offer their cloak also; when pressed into service for one mile, they go two” (RB 7.42 [Matt 5:39-41]). Surely these must be some of the most countercultural words ever spoken by Jesus. Society, even in its ancient form, is not built this way. Humility, then and now, is seen as weakness; it is for those who lack the stamina or the backbone to fight back.

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Who is Father Dan Ward?

Posted on March 1, 2013
Posted in Dan Ward, Jason Berry, Pat Marker, Patrick Wall

(GlobalPost.com) Dan Ward is by any measure a complex man. The lawyer-priest righteously helps nuns on property matters and how to deal with a Vatican investigation.

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Tip re Wollmering

Posted on February 21, 2013
Posted in Bruce Wollmering

Received the tip.

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Investigators: In Feeney’s Words (Video)

Posted on February 18, 2013
Posted in Matthew Feeney

It’s already known that Feeney’s victims span decades — and possibly the country, but Feeney says he stayed away from teen boys in the years following three child sex abuse convictions in 1992. While he has repeatedly refused to give details about what he’s done in recent years, Feeney did make an admission that some of his actions were “definitely” inappropriate while he was being recorded in secret.

[Webmaster’s Note: Matthew Feeney is a 1991 graduate of Saint John’s University and was the Youth Group Minister at the Church of St. Joseph (with priests from St. John’s Abbey) in the early 1990s. The Church of Saint Joseph and its leadership, have been under fire lately for covering up allegations of sexual and other misconduct.]
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Former Monks Featured in Movie

Posted on February 11, 2013
Posted in Mea Maxima Culpa, Patrick Wall, Pope Benedict XVI, Richard Sipe

Former Saint John’s Abbey monks Pat Wall and A.W. Richard Sipe are featured in the HBO documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa”. The movie premiered on the HBO network on Monday, February 4, 2013. Sipe and Wall discuss clergy abuse, celibacy and coverup in the wake of an abuse crisis at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wisconsin. The movie was highly critical of several Church hierarchy, including Pope Benedict XVI.

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‘Mea Maxima Culpa’ Director Alex Gibney Praises Pope Benedict’s Resignation

Posted on February 11, 2013
Posted in Alex Gibney, Mea Maxima Culpa, Pope Benedict XVI

(Yahoo) When I learned of the news that Pope Benedict XVI was going to become the first pope in six centuries to resign from office, I immediately thought, I wonder what Alex Gibney makes of this? His documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God details the integral role that Benedict, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, played in investigating the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, and, given the ample space that the New York Times devoted to that subject in its report on the resignation, I was left with impression that, behind the scenes, the continuing controversy may have played a part in the Pope’s decision to step down.

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Blue Cloud Abbey Monks Familiar With Allegations

Posted on February 11, 2013
Posted in Bernadine Ness, Denis Quinkert, Michael Peterson, Thomas Hillebrand

According to  a recent Abbey publication (Saint John’s Abbey E-News, February 2013): “Some wonderful vocation news! In recent months the abbey has welcomed three monks who, for one reason or another, transferred from other monasteries to Saint John’s.” Two of the monks (Bernadine Ness and Michael Peterson) came from an abbey (Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota) whose abbot (Denis Quinkert) was credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

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OpEd: Catholicism’s Curse

Posted on January 28, 2013
Posted in Opinion

They point out that the church’s response improved over time. That’s true, but what hasn’t changed is the church’s hubris. This hubris abetted the crisis: the particular sway that abusers held over their victims and the special trust they received from those children’s parents were tied into the church’s presentation of priests as paragons.

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New right-hand-man’s Minnesota bio provides comic material for Obama

Posted on January 25, 2013
Posted in Barack Obama, Denis McDonough, John Gagliardi

Most notable among Obama’s shout-outs to reliably Democratic Minnesota was noting McDonough’s “college football days as a defensive back under the legendary John Gagliardi” at St. John’s University from 1988-91.

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Obama names Minnesota native Denis McDonough chief of staff

Posted on January 25, 2013
Posted in Barack Obama, Denis McDonough, John Gagliardi

McDonough grew up in Stillwater and graduated from St. John’s University, where he studied history and played defensive back for legendary football coach John Gagliardi.

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SNAP: Sex abuse victim wants priest to apologize and resign

Posted on January 23, 2013
Posted in Carlo Maria Vigano, Dan Ward, David Clohessy, Dunstan Moorse, John Kinney, John Klassen, Othmar Hohmann

A clergy sex abuse victim has written a letter about suspected predators to 1,100 Minnesota Catholic parishioners, but their pastor claims the letter is “libelous.” In response, the victim is urging top church officials to oust the pastor for lying to the congregation.

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Tupa’s January 20 Bulletin Message

Posted on January 19, 2013
Posted in Jacob Wetterling, Jerome Tupa, Joshua Guimond
[Webmaster’s Note: The following message from Father Jerome Tupa is located on page 2 of the January 20, 2013 bulletin. The bulletin will be distributed to the parishioners at the Church of St. Joseph in St. Joseph, Minnesota on January 19 and January 20, 2013. The content of Tupa’s inaccurate and irresponsible message is examined here.]

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Regarding Father Tupa’s Bulletin Message

Posted on January 18, 2013
Posted in Dan Ward, Dunstan Moorse, Francisco Schulte, Jacob Wetterling, Jerome Tupa, Joshua Guimond, Othmar Hohmann, Thomas Gillespie, Tom Andert

In the January 20, 2013 bulletin for the Church of St. Joseph, Father Jerome Tupa attempts to address, as he promised he would last Sunday in mass, the letter that I sent to many of the parishioners (and others) in and around St. Joseph on January 7, 2013. Father Tupa’s message is inaccurate and irresponsible. At least he is consistent.

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Denis McDonough, loyal and trusted aide, to be Obama’s chief of staff

Posted on January 17, 2013
Posted in Denis McDonough, John Gagliardi

The man in line to become President Obama’s next chief of staff is one of his most loyal and trusted confidants — a rare Washington player, associates said, whose sole objective is protecting and advancing the interests of his boss.

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Letter to Bishop (and Pope’s Rep) re Tupa, Ward and Hohmann

Posted on January 17, 2013
Posted in Carlo Maria Vigano, Dan Ward, Jerome Tupa, John Kinney, John Klassen, Othmar Hohmann

Father Tupa knowingly lied to a congregation of Catholics attending mass in a diocesan building. Father Tupa knowingly defamed me. Father Tupa proved that he is willing go to any length, including slander, to cover-up decades of misconduct by members of the Saint John’s and (now) diocesan communities. 

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Former Monk Welcomes Perp Priest (Updated Twice)

Posted on January 16, 2013
Posted in Dunstan Moorse, Nathan Libaire, Tom Andert

Father Nathan Libaire, former Saint John’s Abbey monk and the current pastor at Saint John The Baptist Catholic Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico has reportedly been welcoming one of Saint John’s Abbey’s most abusive perpetrators, Father Dunstan Moorse, to his parish yearly, for over a decade.

Father Nathan Libaire left Saint John’s Prep School abruptly in the early 1990s. No reason was provided to his co-workers.

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Video: Father Tupa Addresses Marker’s Letter to Parishioners

Posted on January 15, 2013
Posted in Dan Ward, Jerome Tupa, Othmar Hohmann

During the 10am mass on Sunday, January 13, 2013, Father Jerome Tupa addressed a letter sent to residents in and around St. Joseph, Minnesota. The letter discussed, among other things, recent allegations of sexual misconduct against Father Othmar Hohmann and Father Dan Ward. The letter did list the names of eighteen monks credibly accused of sexual misconduct, as named by Saint John’s in 2011. The letter did not include, however, the names of five additional credibly accused monks, revealed by Saint John’s in 2012, because Saint John’s will not make these names public.

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Father Tupa Fails to Address Allegations

Posted on January 13, 2013
Posted in Jerome Tupa

20130113_Tupa_MassThank you to the parishioner who provided the video of Father Jerome Tupa’s message to those attending the 10:00am mass at the Church of Saint Joseph on Sunday, January 13, 2013.

Father Tupa, like his superior Abbot John Klassen and Bishop John Kinney, failed to address recent credible allegations against two priests (Father Dan Ward and Father Othmar Hohmann) who worked at the Church of Saint Joseph.

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