MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Katie Kather
kkather@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 01/12/2015
A Chisago County woman previously identified as Doe 20 in a clergy sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Keating has come forward.
Marie Mielke, 29, filed a lawsuit against Keating, the archdiocese and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough in Oct. 2013.
Mielke told reporters Monday that her goal in telling her story is to help other victims of abuse step forward and hold alleged abusers like Keating accountable.
“Hiding something that isn’t your fault gets exhausting,” Mielke said.
She said she first reported to archdiocese officials in 2006 that she had been molested, between 1997 and 2000 by Keating, who joined the University of St. Thomas faculty in 2005.
The abuse began when she was about 12, Mielke said. Keating was 30 years her senior and in the seminary at the time.
Keating, now 58, had been a frequent guest at her family’s Chisago County home. He was placed on leave after Mielke filed her suit in October 2013. He resigned Sept. 16.
Mielke called Keating’s alleged abuse the greatest betrayal of her life.
“It almost killed me. I felt so ashamed I wanted to die,” she said.
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