(SC Times) The St. John’s Prep School alum who was kicked out of a class reunion June 29 on campus has received a letter from the Order of St. Benedict barring him from any of its property for a year.
Patrick Marker maintains a website critical of St. John’s Abbey and its handling of clergy sex abuse cases. He was kicked off the Collegeville campus while attending a class reunion to which he was invited by the Prep School.
Marker received a letter Monday informing him that he is barred from being “in, on or around the premises of the Order of St. Benedict.” Marker is banned from the buildings housing the Prep School, the abbey, St. John’s University, the Liturgical Press and all “dormitory buildings and campus facilities, for any reason whatsoever,” according to the letter.
He also is banned from the Abbey Church.
In a statement released last week in response to the Times’ questions about Marker’s ouster from the reunion, the Prep School issued a statement saying it did so in response to “a history of hostility” by Marker.
“We felt it was in the best interests of our guests to ask this person to leave so that others could enjoy the reunion,” the statement said.
The Prep School hasn’t responded to a follow-up request from the Times to talk to Headmaster Jonathan Licari or his designate about the incident.
The letter Marker received Monday mentions no reason for Marker being trespassed from the property, something that can remain in place for a year. Only Shawn Vierzba, who is the director of the campus Life Safety Services, or Abbot John Klassen can give Marker permission to return to campus in the next year, according to the letter Marker received.
“The thing that surprised me the most is that there’s no reason given,” Marker said. “Not that there had to be, but this claim of a ‘history of hostility?’ There hasn’t been one.”
Marker had traveled from Washington for a reunion of his 1983 Prep School class. His website, www.behindthepinecurtain.com, has posted extensive information about the clergy sex abuse crisis, much of it involving St. John’s monks and priests. Members of St. John’s Abbey in the past have criticized Marker and his website, saying that some of the information he has posted is incorrect.
He referred to the trespass notice he received as “misinformation designed to discredit” him and move farther away from disclosing the truth.
“It’s indicative of their fear rather than my actions,” Marker said. “They fear the truth. This keeps the truth off campus.”
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St. John’s Prep alum told to stay away for a year
Saint Cloud Times
David Unze
July 8, 2013
