Abbott Klassen Responds to Review Board Criticism

Posted on November 7, 2007
Posted in Jeff Anderson, John Klassen, Review Board, Timothy Kelly, Tom Andert, William Skudlarek

A St. John’s Abbey priest whose role on a review board brought criticism last month hasn’t served on the board since early 2007, according to a letter issued this week by the leader of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.
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St. John’s Abbey Suffers Relapse

Posted on November 4, 2007
Posted in Cosmas Dahlheimer, ISTI, John Eidenschink, Michael Blecker, Richard Sipe, Timothy Kelly, Tom Andert

There simply was no “intensive internal investigation.” Interrogation of a frightened teenager is not investigation. I received the following from a principle who was on the scene in 1994: “How can you have an investigation without anyone talking to us? We know that what we heard from (Ned) was clearly inappropriate behavior between a Headmaster and a student; Andert’s actions were abusive. If they can’t see that and act appropriately the Abbey has a big problem, and needs some outside help.”

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Prior Accused of Misconduct

Posted on November 2, 2007
Posted in Jeff Anderson, Review Board, Richard Sipe, Tom Andert, William Skudlarek

A Twin Cities-based lawyer is calling for a St. John’s Abbey monk to be removed from an external review board that examines clergy abuse because he says the monk was once involved with sexual misconduct.
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Fr. Allen Tarlton Returns to Oblate Program

Posted on November 1, 2007
Posted in Allen Tarlton, Oblates, Publications

Beginning with this issue, The Oblate will be issued quarterly. It also has a new editorial team: Fr. Allen Tarlton has graciously offered to serve as the editor emeritus and continues to offer his wisdom and guidance to Bjorn Gustafson and Joel Rainville, now serving as co-editors and Mary Fran Karanikolas as layout editor. In order to better foster a sense of community, the editors would like readers to provide feedback and material submissions. – The Oblate (2007)

The Oblate: Our Sense of Place
http://www.osb.org/oblate/pdf/075102.pdf

Fr. Allan Tarlton Travels to Oblate Meeting in Washington State

Posted on November 1, 2007
Posted in Allen Tarlton, Monk Travel, Oblates, Publications

Br. Benet Tvedten, OSB, Oblate Director at Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota, has graciously permitted the editors of The Oblate to reprint his article on the recent Oblate Directors’ Biennial Meeting at St Martin’s Abbey in Lacey, Washington. Fr. Greg Miller, OSB, and Fr. Allen Tarlton, OSB, also attended this meeting.
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A prayer request

Posted on October 28, 2007
Posted in Tom Andert

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time / 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Feast of Sts. Simon & Jude, Apostles & Martyrs (Anglican Calendar)

Bryan forwarded me an email he received from a friend of his earlier today on a particular matter that is causing me grief even though I’m halfway across the world. I share in the pain and questioning that is undoubtedly going on at the moment in this community.
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Message from Father Timothy Backous (re Andert)

Posted on October 26, 2007
Posted in Tim Backous, Tom Andert

Dear Students, Parents, Regents, Alumni and Friends,

I have just received information that there will be a news conference this afternoon concerning allegations against one of the members of Saint John’s Abbey who served as Saint John’s Prep Headmaster in the early 1990’s. I wanted to assure you all that these allegations are from the past and have been previously investigated. The leader of our community, Abbot John Klassen, is prepared to respond and we will provide that response.

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Email to Kate Lally and John Klassen

Posted on October 25, 2007
Posted in Bruce Wollmering, David Baraga, David G. Farrington, Gordon Tavis, John Klassen, Jonathan Licari, Kate Lally, Michael Bik, Pat Marker, Paul GoPaul, Review Board, Timothy Kelly, Tom Andert, Tom Frost

Ms. Lally, I would like to attend the next Review Board meeting to discuss the
following information.

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Dear Abbey

Posted on October 17, 2007
Posted in PR Machine, St. John's

Cruising along Interstate 94 near St. Cloud, motorists often spot a giant slab of concrete jutting upward amid the Stearns County fields.
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Letter from Richard Sipe

Posted on September 30, 2007
Posted in Cosmas Dahlheimer, Jerome Thiesen, John Eidenschink, Richard Eckroth, Richard Sipe, Timothy Kelly

This letter was written September 30, 2007 to Lee Hanley, a public relations person at St. John’s and an old friend. I had received numerous complaints about my alma mater from around the country. I wanted it to get to the current Abbot who had appeared to be dedicated to improving monastic behavior by setting up an External Review Board to work with the monastery to help young people be safe. I hoped it might stave off some problems. It did not. This and the following article is a personal dialogue.

From: http://www.richardsipe.com/Dialogue/Dialogue-15-2007-09-30.html
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Pavilion blessed, Eucharistic devotions stressed at dedication

Posted on September 1, 2007
Posted in John Klassen, Tom Petters

A dictionary defines “pavilion” as “a part of a building projecting from the rest.” Those few words hardly do justice to the newly completed structure that does indeed project from the Abbey Church. The question remains, “What’s it for?”

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Ecumenical monastery in Wisconsin charts a new way

Posted on August 17, 2007
Posted in Dan Ward

Benedictine Fr. Dan Ward, the canon lawyer who handled legal matters, said the two Catholic nuns “risked a lot”–the risk of the hierarchy saying no, the risk of violating the tradition of the Benedictine order, the risk of misusing the resources they had. He also commended Smith “for the risk she took in sharing in the crazy vision of these women and then joining with them.”

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Controversial Conversations

Posted on August 1, 2007
Posted in Celibacy, Dale Launderville, Homosexuality, Jerome Tupa

“… the Catholic Church’s adamant opposition to gay marriage, coupled with its recent moves to restrict even celibate gay men from ordination, is a source of puzzlement if not scandal.” – CSB/SJU White Paper (August, 2007)

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Abbot John Names New Prior

Posted on June 15, 2007
Posted in John Klassen, Tom Andert

Collegeville, MN — Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., has appointed Fr. Thomas Andert, O.S.B., to be prior of Saint John’s Abbey effective July 1, 2007. In a Benedictine abbey the prior is the abbot’s primary assistant in serving the monastic community. When the abbot is away from the monastery the prior assumes the abbot’s leadership role.
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Still Missing in the Midwest

Posted on March 20, 2007
Posted in John Klassen, Joshua Guimond

Wisconsin and Minnesota, 2002. Four young people, unknown to each other, go missing within an eleven-day period and a two hundred mile radius. The vanishings make national headlines. The stories ask the same question: coincidence or serial killer?

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Retreat Facilitator’s Past As Sex Abuser Resurfaces

Posted on February 6, 2007
Posted in Lynn Bauman, Ward Bauman, William Skudlarek

A group representing clergy sex-abuse victims criticized an Episcopal retreat center in Collegeville, Minn., on Tuesday for inviting a registered sex offender — the brother of the center’s director — to lead a retreat this weekend.

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Confronting the Past (Video)

Posted on February 2, 2007
Posted in Bob Schwiderski, SNAP

Fox 9 Twin Cities rebroadcast of Feb. 2, 2007 “Confronting the Past.”  Watch Jack Klein confront the priest that sexually abused him. Adamson was fired 15 minutes after the parking lot confrontation for false statements on his application for employment.  Of course neither the Diocese of Winona nor the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis warned the facility or the neighborhood. Enabling Bishops pictured.

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Ambassador Rood hosts St. John’s University Alumni

Posted on January 26, 2007
Posted in Benedict Leuthner, Finian McDonald, Mel Taylor

The U.S. Embassy issued the following press release:

On January 18th,. U.S. Ambassador John Rood hosted a reception at his residence for Bahamian alumni of St. John’s University in Minnesota. Because of the close relations between St. John’s and St. Augustine’s College in Nassau, Bahamians have been attending this Midwestern institution since 1932, claiming such graduates as Eugene Dupuch, Arthur Barnett, Leviticus Adderley, Andrew Curry, Monsignor Preston Moss, and at least 250 others in recent times.
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Fr. Francisco Schulte… 2007 Tour Guide

Posted on January 19, 2007
Posted in Francisco Schulte, Sacro Speco

We’ve now been home from Italy for over a week. We’re back at school, and life is so busy already that it’s sometimes easy to forget that it wasn’t so long ago that I was in Rome, walking along The Tiber with my friends or staring at the gorgeous mosaic on the dome of St. Paul’s Basilica. But–despite the hustle and bustle of college life at St. Scholastica, my last semester before graduation–I will never forget my trip to Rome over winter break.
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Monk or Friar?

Posted on January 1, 2007
Posted in Francisco Schulte

Special thanks to Francisco Raymond Schulte, a Benedictine Monk from St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, for explaining the difference between a monk and a friar:
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