{"id":3562,"date":"2011-04-28T21:06:06","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T04:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2011-04-30T22:17:09","modified_gmt":"2011-05-01T05:17:09","slug":"the-monks-that-live-next-door-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/the-monks-that-live-next-door-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monks That Live Next Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) \u2013<\/strong> Earlier this month, St. John\u2019s Abbey in Collegeville mailed letters to thousands of St. John\u2019s Prep School alumni saying over a period of more than 40 years, 17 monks had \u201ccredible allegations of sexual abuse brought against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four of the monks have died, 10 remain at the Abbey with restrictions imposed on their activities.<\/p>\n

But three of the monks accused of sexually abusing children and young adults\u00a0 live here in the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

The outward serenity of St. John\u2019s University and the adjoining St. John\u2019s prep college has harbored scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe subculture of secrecy and sexuality has run so deep and so long that it may be among the worse that I have ever encountered,\u201d Attorney Jeff Anderson said.<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s lawsuits forced the Abbey into releasing the names of the accused monks.<\/p>\n

Brother John Kelly was seen at his St. Michael home, just down the street from an elementary school.<\/p>\n

Esme Murphy: <\/strong>\u201cThe college has put your name on a list saying there are credible allegations of sexual abuse against you. What do you have to say about that?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Brother Kelly<\/strong>: \u201cI have nothing to say.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Murphy:<\/strong> \u201cIs it true?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Kelly: <\/strong>\u201cI have nothing to say.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Murphy: <\/strong>\u201cDid you abuse young boys there?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Kelly: <\/strong>\u201cI have nothing to say \u2026 I guess maybe you don\u2019t understand the Christian religion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Murphy: <\/strong>\u201cI do understand the Christian religion. It\u2019s about forgiveness. Do you feel you deserve forgiveness?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Kelly<\/strong>:<\/em> \u201cI appreciate your program and everything you do, but I just can\u2019t say anything.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Later, Anderson watched the interview with Brother Kelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I watched that, it made me feel very sick and scared,\u201d he said. \u201cScared because he is in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly is still a monk, but is on leave from the Abbey.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Another monk named in the letter, who is also on leave from the Abbey, is Fran Hoefgen. He lives in a townhouse in Columbia Heights.<\/p>\n

Hoefgen ran from WCCO-TV cameras, as they tried to interview him outside his job at the Washburn-McReavey funeral chapel.<\/p>\n

\u201cFran Hoefgen is really disturbing,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cHe molested several youth in parishes while being assigned out of the Abbey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Half a block from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, WCCO-TV caught up with Stephen Lilly.<\/p>\n

Murphy: <\/strong>\u201cYour name was on that list.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lilly:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s an unfortunate set of circumstances.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lilly left the Abbey in the 1990s after being accused in a lawsuit of molesting a St. John\u2019s University student. The Abbey said Hoefgen and Kelly must decide soon whether they will return to St. John\u2019s and the monastic life.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s released this statement today:<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. John\u2019s University is committed to educational excellence and an experience that is safe and respectful for all students. The Abbey\u2019s safety plans are designed to provide a safe environment for all who live, study and work at St. John\u2019s. Monks on safety plans are barred from student residences and other campus spaces that could lead to contact with students in non-public areas.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0http:\/\/minnesota.cbslocal.com\/2011\/04\/28\/accused-of-sexual-abuse-the-monks-that-live-next-door<\/a><\/p>\n

Brother John Kelly [ More<\/a> ]\nFr. Fran Hoefgen [ More<\/a> ]\nBr. Steve Lilly [ More<\/a> ]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) \u2013 Earlier this month, St. John\u2019s Abbey in Collegeville mailed letters to thousands of St. John\u2019s Prep School alumni saying over a period of more than 40 years, 17 monks had \u201ccredible allegations of sexual abuse brought against … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,19,48,145,167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fran-hoefgen","category-jeff-anderson","category-john-kelly","category-settlement-information","category-steve-lilly","wp-image-borders"],"views":937,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3562"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3564,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions\/3564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}