Its reputation for learning and liturgy, publishing and holiness, ecumenism and even bread-making are legendary and have grown over its 146-year existence, making St. John\u2019s Abbey here \u2014 with its impressive abbey church and signature bell tower \u2014 a jewel in the Minnesota prairie landscape.
\n
\nBut the jewel has been tarnished with the disclosure in recent months of a history of sex abuse by a handful of monks, much of it perpetrated 20 to 40 years ago and hidden by the leadership. The revelations have shocked and saddened members of the Benedictine family and thousands of alumni of St. John\u2019s University, its prestigious St. John\u2019s Prep School and its sister campus \u2014 the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn.<\/p>\n
For six months, headlines and television cameras have highlighted ugly aspects of the history of St. John\u2019s Abbey, home to 196 monks, the largest Benedictine men\u2019s community in the Western world. The revelations and their aftermath have demonstrated the resolve of Abbot John Klassen to set the abbey\u2019s house in order, to punish perpetrators, apologize to and compensate victims, take personal accountability and design steps to assure that such abuses are not repeated. The abbey has won praise for its belated openness and Klassen for his courage and integrity in handling the painful sins of the past.<\/p>\n
On April 15, Klassen called a mandatory meeting of all monks at which he disclosed that former Abbot John Eidenschink had sexually abused a monk during his tenure as head of the Benedictine community (1971-79) and another at an earlier date. The news \u201crocked\u201d the chapter, Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer told NCR. \u201cIt is messy, cruddy stuff and it had happened in our house,\u201d said the associate dean of students at St. John\u2019s Prep.<\/p>\n
Many monks had not only served under Eidenschink\u2019s leadership, but had studied canon law and liturgy in his classroom over a quarter century. For some, he was novice master.<\/p>\n
Because Klassen had been part of the monastery staff for a decade before being named abbot in 2000, he knew of two allegations of sexual abuse against the former abbot, he told NCR during a lengthy interview in his office in September.<\/p>\n
When Klassen confronted Eidenschink, now 88 and living \u201con restriction\u201d the past 10 years \u2014 most recently in the monks\u2019 retirement center, St. Raphael\u2019s Hall \u2014 the former abbot admitted the abuse. Both men were nearly in tears, Klassen recalled.<\/p>\n
The pain Klassen is feeling, the pain he has found in the faces of his monks only reminds him \u201cof the deeper pain I have seen in survivors of sexual abuse,\u201d he said in a recent statement announcing the abbey\u2019s settlement of a number of abuse allegations brought against several of its monks.<\/p>\n
Monks on restriction<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a pain that strengthens my resolve to reach out to assist survivors wherever they are in their process of healing,\u201d Klassen told a news conference Oct. 1, at which the abbey announced the terms of the settlement. The pain he has witnessed has also bolstered his determination \u201cto achieve healing within my own monastic community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nine of at least 11 abuser monks have been placed on restriction at the abbey; two have left to discern whether they still have a vocation to Benedictine life. At least two more monks are also living on restriction for sexual infractions related to pornography on the Internet or other sexual misconduct not involving another individual.<\/p>\n
A monk placed on restriction cannot say Mass in public. He may not preach, teach or mix with students or staff in either the university or high school. He cannot use the athletic facilities, swimming pool or cafeteria, but may use the library and walk the roads and byways around the monks\u2019 2,500-acre property and lakefront.<\/p>\n
Allegations this year against two retired monks, Frs. Cosmas Dahlheimer, 93, and Richard Eckroth, 76, who are both living on restriction in the retirement home, prompted Klassen to go public and for the first time acknowledge that members of the abbey have committed sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
Dahlheimer, who suffers from Alzheimer\u2019s disease, has never admitted wrongdoing, but Klassen told NCR there was \u201ccompelling evidence corroborating\u201d his abuse of two children in the 1970s. Eckroth, who took scores of area youngsters to a St. John\u2019s-owned cabin near Bemidji, Minn., between 1971 and 1976 and allegedly molested a number of them there, has denied the accusations.<\/p>\n
The alleged victims, now in their 30s and 40s have described sexually charged weekend trips during which Eckroth talked of nakedness and of the cabin\u2019s sauna while driving five or six boys and girls to the remote log cabin on Lake Swensen. The accusers have testified to being tricked or coerced into going naked in the sauna and in the lake.<\/p>\n
Victims have described being fondled, assaulted, raped and sodomized by Eckroth as well as receiving death threats from him. Two of Eckroth\u2019s weekend guests in 1972, Mary and Susanne Reker of St. Cloud, Minn., were stabbed to death in 1974. Their bodies were dragged to a quarry.<\/p>\n
Eckroth was a suspect in the killing, but passed a polygraph test in the early 1990s when he was sued in a personal injury case alleging sexual abuse of other children. The homicides remain unsolved and the Stearns County Sheriff\u2019s Office has recently begun DNA testing of the girls\u2019 clothing.<\/p>\n
Fred Reker, father of the pair and a deacon at St. John Cantius church in St. Cloud told NCR \u201cthere\u2019s no evidence\u201d linking Eckroth or the abbey to his daughters\u2019 deaths. He and his wife continue to hope that law enforcement officials will crack the case. Notes and photos from the original investigation disappeared some years ago.<\/p>\n
Allegations against Eckroth from other alleged victims are still outstanding, though there is no current lawsuit against him or the abbey. Klassen told NCR he planned to initiate an investigation of abuse claims against the monk. The probe would involve both criminal justice and psychological professionals, he said. Currently he believes there is \u201cinsufficient evidence\u201d to corroborate stories that date back 30 and more years.<\/p>\n
Compensation for survivors<\/p>\n
In October, the abbey announced a broad financial settlement with 12 to 15 people directly victimized by its monks and with an undisclosed number of other people who had filed suits related to the same sex abuse incidents. Although there was no confidentiality concerning the amount of the awards, none of the survivors with whom NCR spoke chose to specify a figure. Money for the settlement came from a combination of insurance payments and monks\u2019 salaries, the abbot said.<\/p>\n
The agreement \u2014 prompted in part by the crusading victims\u2019 advocate, attorney Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn. \u2014 has been hailed as a model for religious congregations, dioceses and churches nationwide in a year in which sex scandals have scarred the Catholic church and continue to unfold. (See accompanying story on Anderson.)<\/p>\n
Besides compensating victims and their families with direct awards, the settlement includes payment for survivors\u2019 ongoing group and individual therapy. It also offers funds for spiritual direction.<\/p>\n
Another feature of the settlement is a provision of a direct apology to each victim \u2014 either from the offending monk or from Klassen. In a letter to Benedictine Oblates, persons who follow the Benedictine rule and are formally associated with the order, former Oblate director and former prep school English teacher Fr. Allen Tarlton, 74, expressed sorrow for his part in the abuse. Fr. Brennan Maiers, 66, who formerly worked in a parish near St. John\u2019s, apologized directly to a victim. Fr. Francis Hoefgen, 52, a former pastor, released a public letter, detailing his contrition and daily prayers for healing and forgiveness.<\/p>\n
The apology from the abbot on behalf of offending monks meant more to Arlene and Ray Vogel than did the financial settlement and payments for ongoing counseling for their sons John, Allen and Michael. The three sued the abbey after detailing how Dahlheimer and Eckroth abused them in the 1970s and early 1980s. They alleged the abuse occurred at the abbey\u2019s cabin, and in Dahlheimer\u2019s room, his car and in the sacristy of St. Augustine church in St. Cloud, where he was pastor and where Allen Vogel an altar boy.<\/p>\n
They moved away<\/p>\n
After Ray Vogel labored 30 years in St. John\u2019s paint shop and Arlene Vogel worked part-time on campus for 20 years, the couple said they felt \u201cwe had to get as far away as possible\u201d and moved 150 miles from the place they had known and loved all their lives. Their sons \u2014 troubled for many years with depression and unable to hold jobs or stay in a relationship \u2014 began, while in therapy, to piece together the puzzle of their lives and what had happened to them 20 years earlier as children.<\/p>\n
Today none of her sons \u201cis in the Catholic faith,\u201d Arlene Vogel told NCR. \u201cThey all believe in God. They\u2019re all trying for the same end. It doesn\u2019t matter what building they go to.\u201d The abuse has made Vogel question her own faith. \u201cI find it pretty hard to go to Mass sometimes. I have mixed feelings about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Vogel praised the actions taken by Klassen to unveil the abuse and be accountable to the victims. \u201cHe is wonderful,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe he is moved by the Holy Spirit and not by lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vogel said she is relieved that after many years, someone finally believes her sons. Klassen told NCR that he is saddened that over the years \u201cthe leadership of the church did not stand with the families to feel what moms and dads feel about their children.\u201d<\/p>\n
A hallmark of the settlement is the creation of an external review board whose members will include at least two clergy abuse survivors, two current or former law enforcement officials, one current or former judicial official, one parent of a clergy abuse victim and one mental health practitioner. The abbey intends that the board be ecumenical and that the local network of clergy sexual abuse survivors and the abbey will have equal say in deciding who sits on it.<\/p>\n
The largely lay panel will also review and make recommendations annually on the abbey\u2019s sexual abuse policy and its implementation.<\/p>\n
The board will invoke a three-person subcommittee to examine any abuse claims made against St. John\u2019s monks, faculty, staff or volunteers. Anyone accused of sex abuse will be placed on immediate administrative leave and monks will be removed from all ministerial duties while the allegations are investigated. A monk accused of sexual misconduct would not be permitted to resume his ministerial role until the board reviews the claims and recommends his reinstatement.<\/p>\n
Although the abbey developed a Policy on Sexual Abuse and Exploitation 15 years ago under Abbot Jerome Theisen (1979-91) and made revisions to it under Abbot Timothy Kelly (1992-2000), the new policy has \u201clegal teeth,\u201d according to attorneys familiar with such cases. It does not rely solely on the abbot\u2019s promises or his efforts to correct conduct within the abbey.<\/p>\n
While former cases were treated in house for the most part, new reporting rules comply with state law and ensure that accusations made by any minor, vulnerable adult or person in therapy will be disclosed to law enforcement officials immediately.<\/p>\n
In 1994, Kelly initiated the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute, an ecumenical group of clergy, therapists and survivors dedicated to preventing sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment through research, education and publishing. The institute is part of St. John\u2019s University School of Theology. LINKUP, a national network of survivors of sexual abuse, held its annual meeting at the institute in 1994, at Kelly\u2019s invitation.<\/p>\n
However, in the recent past, A.W. Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former St. John\u2019s monk, has found the institute \u201ccompromised,\u201d noting that one of its board members was an alleged abuser. Klassen, aware of Sipe\u2019s criticisms, said that St. John\u2019s has always envisioned the institute as an educational endeavor rather than just a review board. \u201cWe need to have offenders, victims, health care professionals as well as theological and pastoral input all focused on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you create a safe faith community?\u201d he asked, adding that an offender can bring insight to this question that others may not be able to give. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to know that. You\u2019ve got to learn how come certain individuals were victims, others not.\u201d In founding the institute, \u201cwe wanted to make a contribution to the whole church. That intention is and was honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One of the things Klassen has gleaned from listening to offender monks is that some were unaware of how much power they possessed as a function of being a priest, of wearing a habit. They knew even less in some cases about \u201cthe power attached to sex itself,\u201d he said. In November the abbey hosted a discussion on the subject of power.<\/p>\n
Klassen admitted that the abbey has been learning from its mistakes over the last 15 years. To avoid a recurrence of sexual abuse, St. John\u2019s will continue to educate all monks and all employees, volunteers and students on issues related to appropriate human boundaries. For the past decade a human rights officer has visited high school and college classrooms and assemblies to facilitate this learning. \u201cSex abuse is on our students\u2019 radar big time,\u201d Niebauer said.<\/p>\n
Mediation sessions<\/p>\n
At about the same time the U.S. bishops were meeting in Dallas in June, Klassen, attorney Anderson and their representatives commenced negotiations aimed at resolving cases without going to court. Following three months of meetings, both sides believe that the settlement represents the best efforts to tailor a program of prevention, healing and reconciliation. Reaching agreement proved arduous and might have failed had it not been for the strong motivation of both sides and the unique mediation process employed.<\/p>\n
Mediation sessions involved victims telling their stories to two independent persons chosen by the two sides. In so doing victims bypassed the more painful process of disclosing to attorneys within the frequently confrontational deposition setting. St. John\u2019s selected the Rev. Margo Maris, an Episcopal priest from Oregon, and Anderson picked attorney Mike Ciresi.<\/p>\n
Ciresi reported that mediation sessions lasted up to 12 hours in his office and were intense during four days in mid-August and another in September. The fact that St. John\u2019s stepped away from the statute of limitations argument \u2014 both to avoid a trial and to hasten resolution of the outstanding complaints \u2014 won praise from both survivors and their attorneys.<\/p>\n
For survivor Allen Vogel, the settlement and the strong policy to prevent further abuse, which the settlements provides, is validation that he was telling the truth when he brought his accusations against Dahlheimer a dozen years ago. That plus a personal apology from the abbot should go a long way in providing accountability and in \u201cstopping the trail of deceit, lies and cover-up and acknowledging that this has occurred,\u201d Vogel told the St. Cloud Times.<\/p>\n
Anderson hailed the survivors as \u201cthe real heroes\u201d in the accord. They had the courage and perseverance to come forward and not to cower in the face of denial of the abuse on the part of the abbey, he told NCR.<\/p>\n
Patricia Lefevere is a special report writer for NCR.
\nPart 2 of this series will be published in the Dec. 27 issue of NCR.
\nhttp:\/\/www.natcath.com\/NCR_Online\/archives\/121302\/121302h.htm
\nScandal at the Abbey
\n2006-02-21 07:10:42 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Its reputation for learning and liturgy, publishing and holiness, ecumenism and even bread-making are legendary and have grown over its 146-year existence, making St. John\u2019s Abbey here \u2014 with its impressive abbey church and signature bell tower \u2014 a jewel … Continue reading