(SC Times) The attorneys representing St. John\u2019s Abbey, St. John\u2019s Prep School, the Order of St. Benedict and the Rev. Francisco Schulte are asking a Stearns County judge to keep secret any documents, information or evidence that they turn over in a clergy sex-abuse lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The motion for a protective order is pending with Stearns County District Court Judge Frederick Grunke. He heard arguments earlier this month about whether documents such as Abbot John Klassen\u2019s file on Schulte and Schulte\u2019s personnel file should be confidential if turned over by the abbey to attorney Jeff Anderson.<\/p>\n
The abbey isn\u2019t opposing the request for the documents. It is seeking an order that would bar Anderson from releasing the information to the public.<\/p>\n
Anderson, whose firm represents two men accusing Schulte of sexual abuse, argued that an order like the one requested by abbey attorney Michael Ford suppresses information about credible sex abuse claims that the public needs to know. He took that argument one step further by saying that Schulte was able to abuse the victims involved in the current lawsuit because St. John\u2019s concealed information about Schulte\u2019s behavior that could have prevented his clients from being abused.<\/p>\n
The hearing and request for Grunke to sign a protective order came after Anderson refused to sign a proposed confidentiality stipulation provided by Ford as a condition of turning over the Schulte documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cA primary reason that plaintiffs were unable to sign a confidentiality stipulation and are unable to agree to a protective order in this case is because the protective order seeks the exact type of secrecy and nondisclosure that caused John Doe SS and John Doe CS to be abused as children,\u201d Anderson wrote to Grunke, referring to the two men who sued Schulte.<\/p>\n
Ford argued that unfiled, pretrial discovery documents generated in a civil case are not public records. The documents being turned over would not be considered judicial records, Ford argued, and as such \u201cthe disclosure of these documents and the information contained in them to the general public and the press should not occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
The documents \u201cdeal with very personal aspects of Father Schulte\u2019s life, containing personal correspondence exchanged between the Abbot and Father Schulte, medical records and performance evaluations,\u201d Ford wrote.<\/p>\n
Medical records are subject to confidentiality protections and Schulte hasn\u2019t waived his medical privilege, Ford wrote. And there\u2019s no reason why personnel records and personal correspondence should be released to anyone outside of the litigation, he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo disclose these documents to the general public would result in not only personal privacy violations, but also embarrassment to Father Schulte,\u201d Ford wrote.<\/p>\n
Schulte, who is known by the names Father Ray and Father Francisco, is accused of abusing an altar boy in North Carolina in the 1980s when he was serving a parish there as a liaison to the Hispanic community. The lawsuit accuses Schulte of abusing the boy during a trip to Mexico and recruiting the boy to enroll at St. John\u2019s Prep. The boy and his brother enrolled at the prep school but left before graduating.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also accuses Schulte of abusing three boys at a boarding school in Puerto Rico, where he was assigned as a priest and teacher. It accuses Schulte of recruiting at least one of the boys to attend St. John\u2019s Prep when Schulte returned to teaching there.<\/p>\n
Schulte was the chaplain at the prep school from 1980-1983 and 1986-1988.<\/p>\n
Read Entire Article and View Comments Here<\/a><\/p>\n Abbey requests Schulte’s files remain private (SC Times) The attorneys representing St. John\u2019s Abbey, St. John\u2019s Prep School, the Order of St. Benedict and the Rev. Francisco Schulte are asking a Stearns County judge to keep secret any documents, information or evidence that they turn over … Continue reading
\nDavid Unze
\nSt. Cloud Times
\nSeptember 17, 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"