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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Comments Regarding St. Joseph

Posted on January 10, 2013
Posted in St. Joseph Parish

Below are some of the comments received regarding the St. Joseph Update.

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Letter: Sexual Misconduct and the Church of Saint Joseph, MN

Posted on January 9, 2013
Posted in Aloysius Michels, Dunstan Moorse, Jerome Tupa, John Kinney, John Klassen, Matthew Feeney, Michael Weber, Othmar Hohmann, St. Joseph Parish, Thomas Gillespie
[Webmaster’s Note: The following letter was mailed via US Mail on January 7 and January 8 to over 1100 families in St. Joseph, Minnesota. It is a followup to an article on this web site dated July 19, 2010. The parishioners in St. Joseph have been used and (literally) abused by the monks from Saint John’s Abbey since the early 1960’s. Some residents claim the abuse goes back to the 30s. Recently, new, credible allegations were made against two priests, Father Othmar Hohmann and Father Dan Ward, who once served in St. Joseph. Despite the credible allegations, Abbot John Klassen has refused to reach out to potential victims of these two vicious predators. Hohmann is deceased, Ward remains a priest in good standing. Father Jerome Tupa responded to the letter during mass on January 13.]

 

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Choir Kids & Anonymous Monks

Posted on January 9, 2013
Posted in Anthony Ruff, Axel Theimer

Saint John’s Abbey recently increased the number of known sex offenders from the monastery from eighteen to twenty-three. [ View ] However, the monastery refuses to name the five newly ordained offenders — and has taken the names of the original eighteen offenders off of the abbey web site.

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Father Jerome Tupa: Priest… Pornographer?

Posted on December 21, 2012
Posted in Jerome Tupa, St. Joseph Parish

Despite receiving a detailed letter describing misconduct by Father Jerome Tupa, no one from the diocese (or from Saint John’s Abbey) has made an attempt to learn the details of Tupa’s alleged misconduct.

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Weather Advisory Delays Information Event

Posted on December 16, 2012
Posted in Dan Ward, Jerome Tupa, Othmar Hohmann

The informational event planned for Sunday morning has been postponed due to inclement weather.

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Regarding Father Jerome Tupa

Posted on December 12, 2012
Posted in Bob Rolfes, Jacob Wetterling, Jerome Tupa, Joshua Guimond

How different might Saint John’s had been if monks like Father Jerome Tupa left the monastery to pursue their own selfish pleasures and allowed individuals such as these two men, who were called to monastic life, remain!

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