MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota
Esme Murphy
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — What exactly is the standard in the Catholic Church these days? Among the lurid revelations in the past few weeks there is one that I keep coming back to.
It is not the most graphic, but it is one that those at the highest levels of the Archdiocese knew about. In 2006, Father Kevin McDonough, then the Vicar General for the Archdiocese, knew that Father Michael Keating had told another Catholic priest that he had “a passionate encounter” with a 14-year-old Italian girl.
McDonough investigated. Keating told McDonough that the words “passionate encounter” did not mean what they appeared to mean. Both the girl and Keating denied any impropriety. McDonough at the time was investigating another underage girl’s claims against Keating, claims that the Chisago County Attorney’s office declined to prosecute.
McDonough concluded there was insufficient evidence to remove Keating from the priesthood, but put restrictions on Keating when it came to dealing with adolescents and young adults. At the time of the investigation Keating was a professor at the University of St. Thomas, where he lived on campus until last weekend when he took a voluntary leave.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.