Why people stick by scandal-plagued pastors

Posted on May 27, 2011
Posted in Reading List

(CNN) — The streets that were once choked with traffic are now bare. The church’s sprawling parking lot is half full. Inside the stylish sanctuary, ushers sway to choir music in front of empty seats.

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Victim Remembers Fr. Othmar Hohmann

Posted on May 25, 2011
Posted in Othmar Hohmann, St. Joseph Parish

Fr. Othmar Hohmann would make his rounds, visiting St. Joseph Parish families on, I believe, Sunday afternoons. When he was to come we kids were told to be on best behavior and we girls were to dress up in the short frilly dresses of the time. Othmar was seated in the living room. My parents would be in the adjacent room, the kitchen, getting the coffee and cookies, and astonishingly, with them that close by, he would grab me and pull me up onto his lap and deftly put his fingers up the leg hole of my panties and fondle and grope, carrying on all the time as if nothing was happening; he was so quick and expert at it and it was so confusing because he was so brazen with my parents just in the next room within earshot so I’d think it was all okay with them, it must have been, otherwise how could he have done it so brazenly? Surely they knew and approved! I was six years old at this time and we had just moved to St Joe from St Cloud.

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Koopmann’s Letter

Posted on May 25, 2011
Posted in Robert Koopmann

The past two years have been very challenging for institutions of higher education and for Saint John’s as well. In spite of many challenges, there have been some very positive developments during the first two years of my administration.

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SJU’s Koopmann will serve single term as president

Posted on May 25, 2011
Posted in Dennis Beach, Robert Koopmann, Tim Backous

(SC TImes) The Rev. Robert Koopmann will not seek a second term as president of St. John’s University, he announced today.

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Visiting Monk: Rev. Michael Brunovsky, OSB

Posted on May 21, 2011
Posted in Michael Brunovsky, Visiting Clergy/Professors, Visiting Monk/Priest

Name: Rev. Michael Brunovsky, OSB
Allegation Type: Sexual Misconduct
Date: 1990-1991 School Year
Location: St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN

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Sex Offender’s Art on Display in St. Joseph Church

Posted on May 20, 2011
Posted in Dunstan Moorse, Lee Eisenschenk, St. Joseph Parish

“The large candle next to the baptismal font is the Paschal (Easter) candle. It is first lit at the Easter Vigil and it represents Jesus Christ “our light.” It is lit during the Easter season, and for the celebration of baptisms, weddings, and funerals.”

 

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Saint John’s Abbey Senior Council Members (2003)

Posted on May 19, 2011
Posted in Benedict Leuthner, Geoffrey Fecht, Hilary Thimmesh, Ken Kroeker, Otto Thole, Raymond Pedrizetti, Robin Pierzina, Roger Botz, Roman Paur, Senior Council, Simeon Thole, Tom Andert

Below is the most recent list of the Saint John’s Abbey Senior Council members. The council’s role is similar to that of a board of directors to a corporation.

Fr. Tom Andert: Born 1947 in Saint Paul, entered the monastery in 1967, ordained in 1975. Masters in educational administration. Served as President at Benilde-Saint Margaret’s for six years and Headmaster of the Prep School for six years. Presently a member of the Education Department of CSB/SJU and faculty resident at SJU.

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Letter to Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer

Posted on May 11, 2011
Posted in Dan Ward, Jerome Tupa, John Klassen, Paul-Vincent Niebauer, Tom Andert

“I sometimes feel that the abbey has used us who were notorious offenders as scapegoats for the sexual dysfunction that was more widespread in the community. I am willing to take responsibility for my actions but I am not the entire cause of monastic sexual dysfunction and its … reputation.” – Anonymous Monk from Saint John’s Abbey

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Unfair reporting hurts St. John’s

Posted on May 8, 2011
Posted in Abbey Schola, Eric Loehr, Jim Smith, John Gagliardi, Opinion, Paul Richards, Robert Koopmann

“Hospitality runs rampant within the St. John’s Abbey and, as a music major, this is clear at student recitals, largely attended by the monks in support of the students.”

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Monastery technology spikes novice interest

Posted on May 6, 2011
Posted in BS, Paul-Vincent Niebauer, PR Machine

“The first thing I tell the men coming in is the information about the past cases,” Niebauer said. “I don’t want them to be blind-sided or to present something that is other than what it is. They appreciate that, and I think that transparency is the best policy.” – Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer

 

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Paul Richards Talks the Talk

Posted on May 4, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, John Klassen, Paul Richards

Br. Paul Richards, sub-prior and spokesperson for Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota recently commented [ View ] on allegations of misconduct by Fr. Francisco Schulte after a lawsuit was filed against Fr. Schulte in Puerto Rico on Monday, alleging abuse at San Antonio Abad school in Humacao, Puerto Rico. “We do not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form,” said Richards.

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PR man claims he was abused by priest

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Patrick Noaker, Paul Richards, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rican man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest affiliated with a Minnesota abbey filed a lawsuit Monday against his alleged abuser and the religious order that runs the abbey.

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St. Ben’s Response Self-Serving

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Ann Marie Biermaier, Dan Ward, Dunstan Moorse, John Klassen, Nancy Bauer

During a ten minute phone call on Monday, April 25, 2011, Sister Ann Marie Biermaier was made aware that allegations of sexual misconduct (by her) had surfaced, involving a minor in the 1970s. Over the next eight days, the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict had to decide how to deal with the allegations.

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Photos: San Antonio Abad

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

Two survivors of abuse by St.  John’s Abbey’s Fr. Raymond “Francisco” Schulte visited Colegio San Antonio Abad in Humacao, Puerto Rico on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

Both men were abused by Fr. Schulte while attending the high school in the late 1970’s.

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Radican demanda federal contra religioso (Video)

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Patrick Noaker, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

(El Nuevo Dia) Dos abogados norteamericanos expertos en casos de abuso sexual contra menores radicaron en la mañana de ayer una demanda en el Tribunal Federal a nombre de un hombre de 46 años que, según adelantó este diario, alega haber sido abusado por un religioso mientras estudiaba en el Colegio San Antonio Abad, de Humacao, hace 33 años.

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Recurso en Tribunal federal contra sacerdote y orden religiosa

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Patrick Noaker, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

(EL VOCERO) El sacerdote Raymond Francisco Schulte y la orden de San Benito, fueron demandados en el Tribunal federal por una alegada víctima de abuso sexual en el 1977 mientras estudiaba en el Colegio San Antonio Abad de Humacao.

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PR man claims he was abused by priest

Posted on May 3, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Patrick Noaker, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

(AP) A Puerto Rican man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest affiliated with a Minnesota abbey filed a lawsuit Monday against his alleged abuser and the religious order that runs the abbey.

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Puerto Rico suit accuses St. John’s Abbey monk of sexual abuse

Posted on May 2, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Michael Ford, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

(SC Times) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A lawsuit filed Monday in a Puerto Rico court accuses a St. John’s Abbey monk of sexually abusing a teenager in 1978 at a boarding school in Humacao.

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Demandan a ex capellán y Principal de colegio católico

Posted on May 2, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

SAN JUAN — Un ex estudiante del Colegio Católico San Antonio Abad de Humacao demandó por daños y perjuicios al ex capellán y Principal de la institución y por abusar sexualmente de él mientras era estudiante de octavo grado a finales de la década del 1970.

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Lawsuit Filed in Puerto Rico (Video)

Posted on May 2, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Jeff Anderson, Patrick Noaker, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Abad

At a news conference this afternoon in San Juan, Puerto Rico, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Patrick Noaker announced that a lawsuit had been filed against a St. John’s Abbey monk Father Raymond “Francisco” Schulte, St. John’s Abbey and the Order of St. Benedict.

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