Former St. Joseph resident, 75, alleges sexual abuse in 1932 at St. John’s Prep School

Posted on March 22, 2011
Posted in St. John's Prep

A 75-year-old former longtime St. Joseph resident told the Newsleader he was molested 60 years ago by a 40- or 50-year old St. John’s priest who came from a well-established area family and who has since died.

Read More

Time to Eliminate ISTI and FCLR

Posted on March 16, 2011
Posted in Dietrich Reinhart, ISTI, Jerome Hanus, John Klassen, PR Machine, Richard Sipe, Roman Paur, Timothy Kelly

The Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute (“ISTI”) was, and continues to be a public relations tool for St. John’s in Collegeville, Minnesota.  Further, its leadership, including (former) Abbot Timothy Kelly, Br. Dietrich Reinhart, Fr. Roman Paur and (current) Abbot John Klassen have all either been perpetrators of misconduct or allowed others to do so without consequence.

Read More

Liturgical Press Reorganizes, Longtime Employees Lose Jobs

Posted on March 9, 2011
Posted in Aelred Senna, Dunstan Moorse

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — Liturgical Press, the 85-year-old publishing house of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, has announced a reorganization that involves the creation of two new market departments and five new positions.
Read More

Tagged |

Francisco Schulte’s Abuse Condo

Posted on March 7, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Jeffrey Ingham

Fr. Francisco Schulte OSBIn the mid-80s, Fr. Francisco Schulte, OSB from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota abused at least two of his victims (including a 12 year old boy) in a condo on Athens Drive in Raleigh, North Carolina. The condo was owned by Fr. Jeffrey Ingham, now Monsignor Jeffrey Ingham, of the Archdiocese of Raleigh, North Carolina (photo below).

Read More

Fr. Anthony Ruff Resigns

Posted on March 7, 2011
Posted in Anthony Ruff, The List
[Webmaster’s Note: We hope that Fr. Anthony Ruff will next turn his attention to the hypocrisy within his own community. However, as one of the compromised/offending monks, we doubt he will. Below is his open letter to bishops in the United States.]

Read More

Anthony Ruff, OSB

Posted on March 7, 2011
Posted in Anthony Ruff, The List

Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of St. John’s Abbey. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John’s University School of Theology-Seminary. He is the founder of the National Catholic Youth choir. He is widely published and frequently presents across the country on liturgy and music. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. He does priestly ministry at the local county jail and the neighboring community of Benedictine sisters in St. Joseph.

Read More

San Antonio Abad se distancia de abuso sexual

Posted on March 5, 2011
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Oscar Rivera

El hombre, cuya identidad no ha sido revelada, radicó una demanda federal en la que alega que fue molestado sexualmente por Schulte cuando tenía 14 años y que las autoridades del colegio encubrieron su caso y las conductas indebidas de otros 21 miembros, no haciendo nada para evitarlo.

Read More

St. Ben’s Susan Sink Regarding Women Priests

Posted on February 17, 2011
Posted in St. Ben's, St. Benedict's, St. John's Bible, Susan Sink

Today I went to a community Mass presided over by a Roman Catholic woman priest. These are women ordained as priests by male bishops or by women priests who were ordained by male bishops or, increasingly, women bishops. The important thing (to them) is that they retain legitimate succession back through ordained bishops. However, they are not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. A few years ago there was even a pronouncement that the act of being a woman ordained automatically excommunicates both the woman and whoever ordains her. So, officially, she is an excommunicated woman, completely outside the official communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

Read More

Monk Regarding Fr. Dan Ward

Posted on January 25, 2011
Posted in Dan Ward, Daniel Durken, Francisco Schulte, Gordon Tavis, Jim Phillips, John Klassen, Thomas Gillespie

“Dan Ward is a very sick and dangerous man. The monks at Saint John’s Abbey have put him in a powerful position and they will live to regret it! He has hardly ever spent any time living at the Abbey and if you look at his history, SJA have virtually given him an open check book to go out and live his own life. The problem is that he has destroyed other people’s lives along the way!” – Former Monk, St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville

Read More

Remember Fr. Anthony Smithwick?

Posted on January 9, 2011
Posted in Anthony Smithwick, Visiting Clergy/Professors

Fr. Anthony Smithwick was a visiting priest, originally from Cockfosters Benedictine Monastery in North London. Smithwick is the fourth visiting clergy with allegations of misconduct. According to one visiting monk who was reprimanded for misconduct, “I came to St. John’s and I saw a lot of people acting out.”

Read More

At the Cabin with Fr. Eckroth

Posted on January 5, 2011
Posted in Richard Eckroth

I will recall in this letter as much as I can about Fr. Richard and what I remember about going to his cabin. As I reflect back on that time I cannot remember my exact age, but from photos and what my parents remember, I was 11 or 12 years old. I went up to the cabin at least twice with XXXX. I also remember that on these trips XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX and XXXX XXXXXXXX were there too.

Read More

Catholic New York re Abbot Kelly’s Death

Posted on December 16, 2010
Posted in Timothy Kelly

Abbot Timothy T. Kelly, O.S.B., who served as abbot of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., and earlier was pastor of St. Anselm’s parish in the Bronx, died Oct. 7 in Collegeville, CNY has learned. He was 76.

Read More

Backous Not Under Consideration

Posted on December 14, 2010
Posted in Tim Backous

2014_Tim_BackousAccording to Sister Jeanne Weber, chair of the Mount Marty College Board of Directors, Fr. Timothy Backous from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota is no longer being considered for the position as the new president of Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota. Backous was considered the front-runner and had reportedly told staff members at Saint John’s Prep School that the job was his.

Read More

An Open Letter from One Catholic Priest…

Posted on December 12, 2010
Posted in John Klassen, Opinion

“Surely, everyone wishes that this crisis would be resolved for the good of all. Unfortunately, however, I find that some people are saying that the victim / survivors should simply forgive and move on with life. Yet such an expectation overlooks what seems to me to be the necessary sequence of events for forgiveness and peace to happen.”

Read More

Letter to the Winona Daily News (Re Abbot Klassen)

Posted on December 12, 2010
Posted in John Klassen, Opinion, Review Board

St. John’s Abbot John Klassen promised my family and other survivors as a part of an agreement they would create a model of prevention, healing, reconciliation and an external review process created by and through the survivors’ community. Another empty promise that left many questions and victimized the survivors again.

Read More

Monk Photos

Posted on December 10, 2010
Posted in Photos

Photos of the monks at Saint John’s Abbey are available upon request.

Read More

St. Cloud Times… Top Stories of 2010

Posted on December 10, 2010
Posted in Francisco Schulte, John Klassen, Pedophilia, San Antonio Abad

An article about St. John’s Abbey that appeared in the June 9 edition of the St. Cloud Times is up for consideration as one of the top stories of 2010.

Read More

The Long Wait to Die

Posted on December 4, 2010
Posted in Francisco Schulte, San Antonio Abad

ATLANTA — There are more than 3,000 inmates awaiting execution nationally, but only 40 or so are executed across the country in a typical year. Mark McClain will be one of those 40 if he is executed as scheduled Tuesday for killing a pizza store manager in Augusta for about $100 during a robbery.

Read More

(Book Review) The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability…

Posted on December 1, 2010
Posted in Canon Law, Pope Benedict XVI, Reading List

What has made a bad situation worse, as the eminent QC Geoffrey Robertson argues in this coolly devastating inquiry, is canon law – the church’s own arcane, highly secretive legal system, which deals with alleged child abusers in a dismayingly mild manner rather than handing them over to the police. Its “penalties” for raping children include such draconian measures as warnings, rebukes, extra prayers, counselling and a few months on retreat. It is even possible to interpret canon law as claiming that a valid defence for paedophile offences is paedophilia.

Read More

Celebrate Positive Choices Month

Posted on December 1, 2010
Posted in Tim Backous
[Webmaster’s Note: St. John’s Abbey has been under scrutiny for years because its members have done far more to protect the community’s reputation than help victims of misconduct. Fr. Tim Backous explains the thought process that allows this to occur.]

“…we choose to act one way and avoid another not because it will get us fame, fortune or power but because it is good for the community.” – Fr. Tim Backous

Read More