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  Shoreview Order Discloses Abuse; Offender in Treatment, Prior Says

By Chris Graves
Star Tribune
May 20, 2002

A member of a Catholic religious order based in Shoreview sexually abused a 14-year-old boy in the mid-1980s at its seminary school in Onamia, Minn., an official with the Crosier Fathers and Brothers said Sunday.

Brother Gregory Madigan admitted he sexually abused the boy after the victim came forward in 1988, said the Rev. Tom Carkhuff, head of the U.S. Crosiers. Madigan spent eight months in residential treatment and and has been living under restrictions at the Crosier national headquarters in Shoreview for a year and a half, Carkhuff said. Madigan continues to be treated.

Carkhuff called a news conference Sunday afternoon to discuss the abuse.

Carkhuff publicly disclosed the abuse for the first time to parishioners of St. Odilia Catholic church during Saturday and Sunday masses.

The order's headquarters are near St. Odilia church and school.

Carkhuff told reporters and parishioners that he knew of Madigan's history when he assigned him to live under restrictions at the Shoreview Crosier community a year and a half ago. Madigan, 67, has taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience but is not a priest.

"To the best of our knowledge, Brother Gregory has not re-offended since he entered his treatment program," Carkhuff said. "I made the decision to assign Brother Gregory to be a member of the Shoreview Crosier community only after I became personally convinced that his presence here would not place anyone in the parish or the public at risk."

But neither Carkhuff nor the Rev. Rick McGuire, of St. Odilia, discussed the assignment with lay leaders of the parish. Both called that a mistake Sunday.

Carkhuff declined to detail the nature of the abuse, but he said Madigan admitted that he abused others as well. All of the victims were from the Onamia area, Carkhuff said. A monetary settlement was reached with the victim who came forward, but Carkhuff said the settlement was sealed. He said the victim came forward because he didn't want others to be victimized.

The order was not required, as it would be now, to notify authorities of abuse. The Star Tribune is identifying Madigan, who has not been charged with any crimes, because he was publicly identified Sunday.

Carkhuff said the Crosiers followed their internal procedures at the time and removed Madigan from the Onamia community and sent him to the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md., where he lived for eight months. The program offers treatment in a variety of areas, including sexual issues, alcoholism, drug addiction and depression.

From there, he was transferred to Chicago until 1992, when he was transferred to a Crosier community in New York until 2000, when it closed.

Carkhuff said that before Madigan moved to Shoreview, he underwent a weeklong assessment at a treatment center. Carkhuff also talked with the other men living in the Shoreview community, with St. Odilia's pastor, and with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Madigan never worked at the parish, instead working within the Crosier buildings, doing clerical work and cleaning. He was restricted from going onto St. Odilia parish property unless he was accompanied by another adult. The only time he was allowed in the church was for morning prayer and for mass.

As a result of discussions with parishioners, whom McGuire described as angry and concerned, Carkhuff said he is looking for temporary housing to move Madigan from Shoreview. Until that happens, Madigan must now be accompanied by an adult wherever he goes _ on or off the Crosier campus. He also cannot attend weekend liturgies at St. Odilia.

Carkhuff told parishioners that the Crosiers will hire an independent consultant to review all allegations of sexual misconduct in their files and to study how the Crosiers responded to the allegations, the victims and the Crosiers involved.

Madigan was not present at the press conference, but Carkhuff said he is remorseful about his past. "He is willing to do whatever he needs to, to communicate to the lay, the public and neighbors, that he takes this very seriously," Carkhuff said. "And he will do as I call upon him to do."

 
 

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