Monks with a Safety Plan may not have social relationships or individual contact with vulnerable persons of any age on the Saint John’s campus or off-campus, in any setting.
Webmaster’s Note: This Official Statement should be read carefully. The Abbey continues to hold itself, and its offending monks, to such a low standard of responsibility and accountability. Sadly, offending monks are failing to meet even the low expectations set by the Abbey.
The following monks from St. John’s Abbey have web sites:
Fr. Tom Andert
Fr. Timothy Backous
Br. Dennis Beach
Fr. Nickolas Becker
Br. Isaac Connolly
A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out.
ROME – The Italian church says gay priests must not lead a “double life,” expressing pain and anger over a magazine article and video purporting to show priests frequenting gay locales in Rome.
They also specify that priests who acquire, possess or distribute child pornography will be considered to have committed a serious offence subject to the same disciplinary action as abusers.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Thursday made sweeping revisions to its laws on sexual abuse of children by priests in its latest attempt to tackle a scandal that has shaken the Catholic Church around the world.
Brennan Maiers, pedophile priest from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota was reportedly out in public (without supervision, again) on Wednesday July 14th.
Ron Westrum, professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University, suggests that organizations react in a series of stages to “anomalous reports.” They are: 1) suppression, 2) encapsulation, 3) public relations, 4) local fix, 5) global fix, and 6) investigation of root causes. He came to his formulation through the study of the battered child syndrome that many people, even professionals, found hard to admit was a widespread phenomenon.
Br. Isaac Connolly [ Link ] took his down.
Fr. Finian McDonald [ Link ] did the same.
Now Fr. Brennan Maiers is taking a shot.
At St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, several members of the Order of St. Benedict live under restrictions imposed by Abbot John Klassen. Some members faced with the possibility of restrictions have taken leaves from the order to consider whether they wish to remain members of the order. Klassen said in 2002 that as many as 15 monks or priests were on restriction at the abbey, including former Abbot John Eidenschink. Klassen last month declined an interview request from the Times to discuss the current state of the abbey and the monks on restriction.
Developing… According to Abbot John Klassen, St. John’s Abbey has settled at least one complaint against lay (non-clergy) staff members since 2002.
We have received credible information/allegations about the following lay and visiting faculty members at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota (USA):
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Available Here: http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/beingamonk/formation.html
St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson can sue the Vatican on behalf of sex-abuse victims after a ruling Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court turned back a challenge by the Catholic Church that said it was immune from U.S. lawsuits.
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We received documents this evening showing that, in 1993, Abbot Jerome Theisen claimed that Fr. Otto Weber reported abuse by Fr. Allen Tarlton in 1979.
St. John’s Abbey has offered a mea culpa of sorts to St. Cloud Times, after erroneously telling the paper in May that Father Raymond Francisco Schulte, the target of a sex abuse lawsuit, was living at the abbey after the abuse allegation first surfaced. In fact, he was not.
St. John’s monk Fr. Finian McDonald is currently “on restriction” at St. John’s Abbey. Restricted monks cannot have personal web sites. Abbot John Klassen, however, is known for his relaxed approach to the enforcement of the actual restrictions placed on monks at the Abbey.
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This is an attempt at damage control.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. John’s Abbey is apologizing for what it says were errors in a public statement about the work history and whereabouts of an abbey monk accused of sexual abuse.
On October 3, 2002, Joshua searched the Internet for “st. john’s abbey statute of limitations conspiracy”. Read More
On October 3, 2002, Joshua searched the Internet for “st. john’s abbey statute of limitations conspiracy”. Last month, Joshua’s mom told a reporter that Joshua discussed the abuse scandal and that he didn’t think it was a good idea that the monks were able to stay on campus.
Below are two screen shots showing cached pages found on Joshua Guimond’s hard drive:
