MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Madeleine Baran
Jan 12, 2015
Internal archdiocese documents released Monday by a clergy sex abuse attorney claim former University of St. Thomas president Dennis Dease knew of child sex abuse allegations against a Catholic Studies professor for several years.
The newly released documents contradict the university’s public statement last year that Dease and other top administrators did not know about the allegations against the Rev. Michael Keating until late 2013.
The timing is important because Keating was allowed to work closely with students at St. Thomas. In October 2013, MPR News reported a clergy review board had recommended Keating not mentor young people. But it wasn’t clear then if the archdiocese had passed along that recommendation to the University of St. Thomas. Last October, St. Thomas officials concluded that Dease and those who reported directly to him did not know of the accusations.
Documents released Monday, however, indicate that was not the case and that some St. Thomas leaders were told about the claims against Keating.
In one 2010 memo, Archbishop John Nienstedt rebuked Donald Briel, then head of St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies program and Keating’s boss, for letting Keating work a semester at the university’s Catholic Studies program in Rome. Nienstedt also tightened Keating’s monitoring plan to require him to receive approval for additional assignments.
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