MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
October 18, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Internal archdiocesan documents obtained by MPR News raise questions about what the University of St. Thomas knew about sexual abuse allegations against a professor in 2006.
The documents show top church deputy Kevin McDonough investigated several allegations in 2006 that the Rev. Michael Keating sexually abused women and he planned to communicate his findings to an administrator at the University of St. Thomas.
Keating, 57, is an associate professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas and a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He went on temporary leave Oct. 11. Three days later, a woman filed a lawsuit in Ramsey County accusing Keating of sexually abusing her in the late 1990s when she was 13 to 15 years old.
Keating did not respond to requests for comment. On Thursday, his attorney, Fred Bruno, called the allegations in the lawsuit “false and highly defamatory.”
The woman’s family first reported the allegations to the archdiocese in 2006. The archdiocese’s clergy review board investigated and concluded in November 2007 that there was insufficient evidence of child sexual abuse. Nonetheless, it recommended to Archbishop Harry Flynn that Keating not be allowed to mentor teenagers and young adults.
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