MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News
By Jerome Christenson
For the Catholic Church in Winona, it may not be over – but perhaps it is changing.
At 2:22 p.m. Tuesday, hours after the personnel files of 14 priests “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct were made public, the Diocese of Winona issued an official statement: “Pacelli Catholic Schools today, terminated the employment of Ms. Mary Gilles, who served as a high school math teacher at Pacelli High School (Austin, Minn.). Ms. Gilles has been arrested for suspicion of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor child.”
The case of Gilles, who faces charges of sexually assaulting a minor child, has just begun. But the diocese’s involvement so far mirrors other recent behavior by the diocese in response to claims of abuse, as the diocese prepares to fight a high-profile suit headed to trial in November and readies itself for other claims that Quinn has suggested may raise the possibility of the diocese considering bankruptcy.
Sixteen months earlier, Bishop John Quinn put one of the 14 priests, Rev. Leo Charles Koppala, on administrative leave and barred him from public ministry and all church property the same day charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor child were filed against him in Faribault County. Koppala pleaded guilty in March and was deported to India in May with the assent and cooperation of local church officials, including a recommendation that he be removed from the priesthood.
Church officials’ reaction to the charges against Koppala are detailed in the internal diocesan documents and correspondence released Tuesday by Anderson & Associates, which is pursuing a wide-ranging suit against both the diocese and Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, and evidences a dramatically changed approach to sexual misconduct by church employees.
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