MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com November 24, 2015
ST. PAUL — The personnel files of five St. John’s Abbey monks were released Tuesday as part of the settlement of a lawsuit against the abbey and one of its monks.
The files show that one monk admitted to each having more than 200 sexual encounters and another credibly accused monk was paid $30,000 to leave the priesthood, according to the files.
Attorney Jeff Anderson held a press conference to announce the release of the files on the Rev. Finian McDonald, the Rev. Bruce Wollmering, Francis Hoefgen, the Rev. Thomas Gillespie and the Rev. Richard Eckroth.
Hoefgen was arrested in Stearns County in 1984 in connection with a report of sexual abuse against a 17-year-old boy who had been living with Hoefgen temporarily. Hoefgen was a priest at St. Boniface parish in Cold Spring at the time. He wasn’t charged in the case. Hoefgen left the priesthood in 2011 and got a $30,000 check from the abbey.
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