{"id":3805,"date":"2011-05-11T23:46:59","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T06:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/?p=3805"},"modified":"2011-10-22T14:27:08","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T21:27:08","slug":"letter-to-br-paul-vincent-niebauer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/letter-to-br-paul-vincent-niebauer\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I sometimes\u00a0feel that the abbey has used us who were notorious offenders as scapegoats for the sexual dysfunction that was more widespread in the\u00a0community. I am willing to take responsibility for my actions but I am\u00a0not the entire cause of monastic sexual dysfunction and its …\u00a0reputation.”<\/em> – Anonymous Monk from Saint John’s Abbey<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n[Webmaster’s Note:\u00a0This email was sent to Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer in response to his participation and his quotes\u00a0in an article\u00a0[\u00a0Link<\/a> ] which appeared in the May 6, 2011 issue of The Record. ]\n

Br. Paul-Vincent,<\/p>\n

While I appreciate the abbey’s need for a positive public relations\u00a0article (link below) in the wake of the truths published in the\u00a0previous issue of The Record, your comments regarding transparency and\u00a0“past cases” are misleading and patronizing.<\/p>\n

The abbey has not been transparent. I know it. You certainly know it.<\/p>\n

When you tell the men coming in about past cases, how long do you\u00a0spend on the topic? Do you tell the stories of your brother offenders?\u00a0From what perspective? All of them or just the ones who have been\u00a0caught? Do you tell the men coming in about the dozens of victims who\u00a0have come forward, the hundreds of victims who have remained silent?<\/p>\n

Do you share the insight of the offending monk who wrote, “I sometimes\u00a0feel that the abbey has used us who were notorious offenders as\u00a0scapegoats for the sexual dysfunction that was more widespread in the\u00a0community. I am willing to take responsibility for my actions but I am\u00a0not the entire cause of monastic sexual dysfunction and its …\u00a0reputation.”<\/p>\n

Do you tell the men coming in that new cases will come\u00a0forward because the abbey has not been transparent, because victims\u00a0are waiting for their proud parents to pass, and because sometimes,\u00a0victims need time? Do you tell them that former members of the\u00a0community left because of men like Dan Ward and Jerome Tupa? Do you\u00a0tell them that they can touch a minor inappropriately, even send love\u00a0letters to a minor, and still become prior… like Fr. Tom Andert?<\/p>\n

I am requesting that you (1) request that Abbot John Klassen actually\u00a0adopt a “transparency is the best policy” approach, and that he\u00a0actually do so, before you pretend to, and (2) you not misinform the\u00a0public, or those interested in joining the community, by minimizing\u00a0(through ignorance or intended omission) the scope of the problem.<\/p>\n

St. John’s will not survive if it continues to deceive and continues\u00a0to cover-up the crimes of members of the community.<\/p>\n

It’s not called being “blindsided” when you know it’s coming.<\/p>\n

More is coming.<\/p>\n

Patrick Marker
\nMay 11, 2011<\/p>\n

http:\/\/csbsjurecord.com\/2011\/05\/monastery-technology-spikes-novice-interest\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I tell the men coming in is the information about the\u00a0past cases,\u201d Niebauer said. \u201cI don\u2019t want them to be blind-sided or to\u00a0present something that is other than what it is. They appreciate that,\u00a0and I think that transparency is the best policy.\u201d – Br. Paul-Vincent\u00a0Niebauer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I sometimes\u00a0feel that the abbey has used us who were notorious offenders as scapegoats for the sexual dysfunction that was more widespread in the\u00a0community. I am willing to take responsibility for my actions but I am\u00a0not the entire cause of … 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":[142,155,6,21,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dan-ward","category-jerome-tupa","category-john-klassen","category-paul-vincent-niebauer","category-tom-andert","wp-image-borders"],"views":1373,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805","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=3805"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4552,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions\/4552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}