ST. LOUIS PARK – St. John’s Abbey officials say the claims made Wednesday by a national advocacy group for clergy molestation victims are inaccurate.
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\nThe group calls the abbey’s eventual disclosure July 28 of allegations of sexual misconduct from the 1970s and 1980s “begrudging” and “reprehensible.”<\/p>\n
“Our fear is that during these inexcusable delays by the abbey, other kids may have been hurt and were certainly put at risk,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, Mo.<\/p>\n
Clohessy is the national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which had a news conference Wednesday outside a Catholic high school in St. Louis Park.<\/p>\n
“They are at least implying recklessness on our part that’s simply uncalled for,” said the Rev. William Skudlarek, spokesman for St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.<\/p>\n
Full disclosure<\/p>\n
Allegations against the Rev. Michael Bik were made in 1997 and involved two teen-age boys in the 1970s, before Bik joined the Catholic abbey and before his ordination.<\/p>\n
“Abbot John (Klassen) has already explicitly said if we had known in 1997 what we now know – and there has been an incredible amount of learning not only in the church but by society about sexual abuse since then – we would have done things differently,” Skudlarek said.<\/p>\n
Bik was allowed to work at St. John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville for five years after he was accused of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n
“We were dealing here with allegations of abuse that took place decades earlier before Michael Bik came to St. John’s,” Skudlarek said.<\/p>\n
Clohessy, a victim of sexual abuse by a cleric, said any information the Collegeville abbey has regarding sexual misconduct by its monks should be turned over to police.<\/p>\n
Bik, 57, and the Rev. Bruce Wollmering, 65, live in the monastery and work under restrictions “where their activities are guided by individual plans of accountability,” Skudlarek said last month.<\/p>\n
“We think common sense and common decency require that all information about suspected sex crimes should be given to independent officials in law enforcement – not to biased, untrained church officials,” Clohessy said by phone after Wednesday’s news conference.<\/p>\n
The work restrictions by the abbey include “avoidance of student residence halls on campus,” Klassen had earlier said.<\/p>\n
“We know that abbey officials claim they monitor these guys, but the simple truth is no one can monitor a child molester 24\/7 – certainly not a cleric supervising a fellow cleric,” Clohessy said.<\/p>\n
SNAP<\/p>\n
Accusations against the late Rev. Robert Blumeyer were made in September, involving a teen-age boy Blumeyer knew when he was an assistant pastor at a Wayzata parish starting in 1969.<\/p>\n
“When allegations are brought forward, one needs time to determine if the allegations are true and how to proceed,” Skudlarek said.<\/p>\n
While Blumeyer’s name was included in the July 28 news release, the abbey disclosed the allegations against him as early as May, which was reported by the media, Skudlarek said<\/p>\n
“It seems to me that SNAP was expecting an immediate disclosure, and that is not always the best way to go considering the feelings of the victims involved,” Skudlarek said.<\/p>\n
In 2004, Wollmering was accused by a St. John’s University student of sexual misconduct that allegedly started in 1984.<\/p>\n
SNAP handed out 200 fliers Wednesday in the St. Louis Park neighborhood where the Rev. Dunstan Moorse, a St. John’s cleric accused of molestation, worked in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
“It’s just unconscionable. May God have mercy on Klassen and his colleagues when a victim comes forward and reports abuse after this,” Clohessy said.<\/p>\n
Abbey defends its handling of clergy offenses
\nBy Frank Lee
\nSt. Cloud Times (MN)
\nAugust 10, 2006<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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