MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014
Statement by Verne Wagner of Duluth, Northeast MN (Duluth, MN & Superior, WI) SNAP director ( 218- 340-1277, lwagsmn@yahoo.com )
According to just-released church records, for almost 60 years, numerous Minnesota Catholic officials concealed the crimes of a predator priest who worked in the Crookston diocese.
It’s not news that Fr. Louis Heitzer was a prolific pedophile. However, his work in the Crookston diocese was not disclosed until yesterday.
We urge Crookston Bishop Michael Hoeppner to aggressively seek out anyone who may have been sexually assaulted by Fr. Heitzer.
Minnesota Public Radio reports that Fr. Heitzer was at a church retreat house in Nevis, MN, that “allowed Heitzer to preside over weekend Masses at nearby parishes,” even though center staff had been warned in writing that he had molested children.
A Twin Cities Catholic official, Fr. Kevin McDonough, wrote in 2002 that Fr. Heitzer was “‘perhaps the most abusive priest ever to be part of this Archdiocese’ abusing kids ‘every place he went.’”
In Bishop Hoeppner’s diocese, we believe there may be eight or ten men who struggle in silence, shame, secrecy and self-doubt, living sad and lonely lives as they battle the life-long harm caused by childhood sexual trauma. They deserve comfort and consolation. They deserve a bishop who acts like a compassionate shepherd, not a cold-hearted CEO.
Bishop Hoeppner should use his diocesan websites, parish bulletins, and pulpit announcements to seek out and help anyone who may have been sexually assaulted by Fr. Heitzer or any other child molesting cleric in the Crookston area.
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