Bishop Kettler,
In 2011, one of Father Tom Andert’s victims referred to the “horrible culture of hypocrisy” at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville. During several conversations, including his visit to Minnesota after Andert’s appointment in 2007, I heard his pain. Last month, that victim committed suicide.
Saint John’s Prep is hosting 2,200 students from area Catholic schools on Wednesday, January 28 at noon in the Abbey Church. Bishop Donald Kettler and Abbot John Klassen, OSB will celebrate the mass with pastors from local parishes. We appreciate your hospitality as we welcome our young guests to campus and apologize for any inconvenience or traffic issues it may cause. The students and buses should be off campus by 2:00 p.m. Read More
(SC Times) A St. John’s Preparatory School spokeswoman confirmed Monday that a Richmond man arrested on suspicion of drunk driving is the school’s principal.
On November 27, 2014, after an accident and field sobriety test, Saint John’s Preparatory School principal Matt Reichert was arrested [ News ] by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department [ Booking ].
Reichert [ Prep Profile ] was reportedly heading home following a Prep School faculty social at Partners Pub in Sartell. Read More
According to the Saint Cloud Times [ Link ] and Stearns County Sheriff, Saint John’s Preparatory School principal Matt Reichert [ View ] was arrested on Wednesday night after an accident and field sobriety test.
Anderson said the agreement will require ongoing public disclosure about abuse cases and that the agreement is more extensive than a 2002 deal reached with St. John’s Abbey about its handling of clergy abuse claims. The Collegeville, Minnesota, abbey agreed to keep abusive monks away from children and pay for therapy for some victims. It also said a review board would investigate abuse complaints. The board included abuse victims and people with law enforcement and mental health experience. Anderson hailed that deal as historic and ground-breaking and also appeared with Abbot John Klassen and victims at a joint news conference, a situation similar to the one planned for this afternoon. (Anderson now says the abbey violated the terms of the agreement, a charge the abbey has denied.)
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(KARE 11) ST. PAUL, Minn. — A group of clergy abuse survivors Thursday filed a public nuisance lawsuit against St. John’s Abbey and the Diocese of St. Cloud, claiming those organizations aren’t doing enough to police priests who’ve been credibly accused of abuse.
According to a document from the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department (below), a matter concerning today’s starting quarterback [Johnny Benson] was referred to the Stearns County Attorney’s Office, “for review and consideration of criminal charges including terroristic threats in violation of MSS 609.713 subs 2.”
(MPR) St. John’s did not name the other five at that time, and it is not clear if they are among the names on the list released in December. St. John’s officials have declined to explain the discrepancy.
(Pioneer Press) St. John’s Abbey and two clerics — one who worked at the Church of St. Bernard in St. Paul — were sued Thursday by men claiming they suffered sexual abuse as children.
(SC Times) ST. PAUL – A lawsuit filed Thursday in Stearns County District Court accuses St. John’s Abbey and the Diocese of St. Cloud of creating a public nuisance with their handling of clergy sex abuse allegations against their priests and monks.
A priest accused of repeatedly raping a Hastings altar boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s pleaded not guilty in a Dakota County courtroom Friday.
The results of concurrent investigations by his former employer, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Saint John’s Abbey have yet to be released, but that hasn’t stopped accused monk/priest Timothy Backous from updating his Facebook page to include a photo of himself and San Francisco 49er’s coach Jim Harbaugh. [ Link ]
Father Jerome Tupa – a priest from Saint John’s Abbey and the subject of a December 12, 2012 letter [ View ] to Father Bob Rolfes at the Diocese of Saint Cloud – no longer has a web site at jerometupa.com and he no longer sells his art/pornography at https://eelement.appolis.com/jerometupa/. Read More
Patty Wetterling and Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner were featured on CNN’s “The Hunt” on Sunday evening. The show, hosted by John Walsh, featured the Jacob Wetterling story. [ Link ]
According to documents from the Woodside Priory web site, Father Timothy Backous is no longer a trustee at the Portola Valley, CA, school for students in grade six through twelve.
Moral theology is a constantly changing landscape of serious reflection on how to live rightly, whether as an individual or as a society. New fields unheard of twenty years ago develop, and new voices add theirs to forebears in the tradition. This book is a thorough revision of the editors original, taking into account such phenomena as the emerging field of virtue ethics, the impact of science and technology on sexual and bioethics, and the increasing importance of such issues as environmental concern to social justice. College professors will find this the go-to anthology for a wide selection of primary source readings for their introductory ethics and moral theology courses, and campus ministers will find it a treasury of stimulating, thought-provoking material for student reflection on living the moral life. (Amazon.com)
1997 Version:
In a world that promotes moral relativity, the Church’s voice remains clear and prophetic.Common Good, Uncommon Questions explores a variety of moral issues. Its collection of Scripture passages, current Church teaching, and contemporary reflections presents a thought-provoking path that leads the reader to consider everything from abortion to the Omega Point. (Amazon.com)
If you have experienced less than professional conduct by Saint Cloud Diocese Victim Assistance Coordinator Roxann Storms, please consider sharing your story.
Plaintiff alleges that he “did not have knowledge of the injuries relating to the sexual abuse . . . until June 2010,” after an investigator interviewed him in May 2010 regarding another potential victim of Father Francisco. (Id. at 4.) This investigation led to the execution of Plaintiff’s affidavit of May 7, 2010, detailing the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Francisco; Plaintiff filed this affidavit as documentation in support of the habeas corpus petition of Reinaldo J. Rivera, another alleged victim of Father Francisco’s predatory sexual abuse at the boarding school. (Docket No. 41-1.)
