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,…