MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation
10-08-2014
Jennifer Haselberger
This morning’s edition of the Winona Daily News (online version) notes that on the same day that personnel files of fourteen priests credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors were released to the public, the Diocese of Winona also issued a statement announcing that a math teacher at one of the diocese’s Catholic high schools was terminated following her arrest for suspicion of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor child. Contrasting the handling of the recent accusation against the teacher with the newly illuminated historical practices of the diocese, the author of the article suggests that the diocese’s response to the arrest [along with its handling of the case of Rev. Leo Charles Koppala] suggests ‘a dramatically changed approach to sexual misconduct by church employees’.
Eleven years after the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People/Essential Norms, one would hope that a drastically different approach would be evident. Yet, the release of documents yesterday raises questions about the motivation for that change. Documents related to the laicization of Leland Smith indicate that while (Father) Smith was initially removed from ministry in 1994 following credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors, he was later permitted to resume a limited form of priestly ministry until 2002, when the diocese began to receive emails from victims regarding abuse they had suffered at the hands of (Father) Smith. There is no indication that the accusations the diocese received in 2002 and 2005 were reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as was required following the promulgation of Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutella in 2001. Rather, the diocese permitted Leland Smith to remain a priest, his status unclear to the general public, priests, and even his family. This situation continued even after the diocese received a complaint from another priest that (Father) Smith was attending funerals in clerical dress and serving as a lector.
It was only in December of 2013, with the release of the names of credibly accused priests (including Smith) imminent that the Diocese of Winona altered its position on Leland Smith and forced him to request laicization. Had such a disclosure not been mandated by the civil courts, it appears extremely unlikely that Leland Smith would ever have been subjected to ecclesiastical penalties.
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