News & Events
The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop resigned on Monday after prosecutors recently charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect youths from abuse by pedophile priests. In statements released Monday morning, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piché, said they were resigning to help the archdiocese heal. “My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “Thus my decision to step down.” The resignations come about 10 day…
(St. Paul, MN) – The resignations of Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Piché and acceptance of them by the Vatican signals an important step in the necessary reckoning in the child abuse crisis. It is equally important to note that the resignation of one or two men from high positions does not in any way signal the end to the crisis or deal with the scope of the problem. It does signal that finally there is a small measure of reckoning under pressure. That pressure has been brought because of the courage of the survivors and the Minnesota Legislature. It is the opening of the…
(St. Paul, MN) – The charges filed by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and John Choi today deserve high praise. The complaint is against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and it demonstrates and recites the problem to be a systemic one, a corporate one, by the top officials, by the Archdiocese, spanning years. It names 10 officials engaged in a pattern of conduct and alleges serious violations of law about which we have been concerned and addressing for years. I have, in the past, been openly critical of the seeming inaction by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and J…
It appears that its ‘business as usual’ for Bishop Paul Sirba in the Diocese of Duluth these days and we are deeply concerned about the all-too-familiar circumstances playing out there. As has been widely reported, Father Brian Lederer of Blessed Sacrament in Hibbing was arrested on May 5th and charged with the sexual assault of multiple young girls at his parish school. Father Lederer is a pastor at Blessed Sacrament who was also a teacher there at one point. Then, in the face of an ongoing criminal investigation, Bishop Paul Sirba made the decision to place the Diocese’s Chancellor, Judicial…
It was reported that St. John’s priest Richard Eckroth, who was retired and living at St. John’s Abbey for years, died this week. It must also be noted that Eckroth had a long history of predatory conduct that shattered the lives and souls of innocent children whose numbers are yet to be known. The number of kids Eckroth abused could exceed 100. What is known is that Eckroth was a serial offender that had been described by at least one Abbot as dangerous. What is also known is that Eckroth was given cover for many of those years by top St. John’s officials. Our firm currently represents …
(St. Paul, MN) – The acquittal of Fran Hoefgen in the criminal case is sad, scary and a travesty of justice. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty because they were not able to know and hear the full picture of predatory conduct well-established by Fran Hoefgen. Today we release more information that the jury did not hear that could have and should have changed the outcome. Because they did not learn Fran Hoefgen abused at least two boys, had been sent to treatment for it, had admitted having abused at least one boy in prior parishes and given a free pass by a former pros…
At a hearing Thursday before the Honorable Shaun R. Floerke in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth, attorneys for clergy abuse survivor Doe 28 will seek an Order requiring the Diocese of Duluth to release to Doe 28 all documents and files regarding all clergy accused of child sexual abuse.
At a press conference today in Duluth, attorney Mike Finnegan will announce the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of a woman naming the Diocese of Duluth as defendant. The woman was sexually abused by Father Charles Gormly at St. Francis of Assisi church in Brainerd, Minn., in…
We are deeply troubled to learn of the arrest of a priest in the Diocese of Duluth, Fr. Brian M. Lederer, Hibbing, Minn., on expected charges of sexual abuse of children. The sexual abuse of children among clergy is a real and present danger. Although the Catholic Church may argue that the scourge of clerical childhood sexual abuse is a thing of the past, the arrest of Lederer and more recent cases such as Curtis Wehmeyer in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Shawn Ratigan in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph tell us otherwise…
Former Lindwood Arts School Janitor Walter Happel was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for sexually abusing numerous children over the course of 30 years. We applaud the courageous survivors who came forward and spoke the truth in order to see justice done. Happel was convicted of three counts of criminal sexual conduct for his sexual abuse of minors. We are alarmed and saddened whenever students are sexually abused by a school employee. When serial predators work with unsupervised access to children in an elementary school, a very dangerous risk is posed…
Timeline – Fr. Allen Tarlton 19 Monks of St. John’s – Photos Key Documents – Fr. Allen TarltonDeposition Transcript of Fr. Allen Tarlton 10-10-2013
Jeff Anderson and Doe 2
Will Stand Together Tuesday and Announce Settlement of
Civil Lawsuit against St. John’s Abbey and Fr. Allen Tarlton
Breakthrough settlement, modeled after Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis settlement, requires
St. John’s Abbey to publicly release the files of 19 St. John’s clerics likely to have offended against minors
Finally, Pope Francis did something about one of the world’s most notorious and noxious examples of clergy pedophilia cover up: he accepted the resignation of criminally convicted Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert W. Finn today. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article19121754.html It’s a step in the right direction. But we will watch to see if it leads to more Vatican action to hold complicit bishops accountable. Because much more needs to be done.
In September 2012, Finn was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse, a misdemeanor, after he learned of child pornography fo…