MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013
Statement by Bob Schwiderski (952 471 3422, skibrs@q.com), Minnesota SNAP director
Twin Cities Catholic officials are giving extra pay to a predator priest and refusing to supervise him even though he was found guilty of child sex crimes at a trial.
In 1996, a jury declared Fr. Robert Kapoun guilty of molesting Dale Scheffler.
Across the US, many priests like Fr. Kapoun are either defrocked or forced to live in a monitored, supervised setting so they’ll be kept away from kids. Twin Cities Catholic Archbishop John Nienstadt refuses, however, to do either.
Nienstadt is being terribly reckless. He has no idea if Fr. Kapoun is molesting kids today.
And Nienstadt is being terribly callous, by essentially paying a monthly “bonus” to a proven predator.
We can’t help but wonder: how many other child molesting Twin Cities clerics are living on their own, among unsuspecting families, getting paid extra to do no work, and perhaps grooming or assaulting kids right now.
Our hearts ache for brave Dale Scheffler, one of Fr. Kapoun’s victims, who endured a public trial. The jury verdict against Fr. Kapoun and the archdiocese was overturned, and archdiocesan officials had the temerity and viciousness to send Scheffler a bill for $6,019.10 for their legal costs.
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