MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Two lawsuits accuse the former prior of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., of abusing two former prep school students in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The lawsuits come after the abbey and its review board earlier this year cleared the Rev. Tom Andert, saying the allegations were unsubstantiated. Andert’s name has never been on the abbey’s list of those with credible allegations against them of the abuse of minors.

But Jeff Anderson, the lawyer representing the men suing Andert, said that abbey investigators never interviewed the victim in one of the lawsuits before declaring the allegations unsubstantiated.

The abbey issued a statement denying the allegations and saying it intends to defend both cases.

Todd Belrose, now of Florida, spoke at the news conference. He reported the abuse last year to the abbey, which put Andert on leave pending an investigation. In February 2016, the…