MINNESOTA
WDAY
By Andrew Hazzard
CROOKSTON, Minn. — A lawsuit filed by a northwest Minnesota man against against the Diocese of Crookston and its Bishop, Michael Hoeppner, saying the diocese covered up abuse and the bishop tried to coerce the victim into silence has reached its fourth judge in a series of recusals and is being contested on grounds some its counts are past the statute of limitations.
Ron Vasek says his efforts to become a deacon, the Roman Catholic Church’s highest lay position, were thwarted by the diocese after he told them he was abused by in 1971 by the Rev. Roger Grundhaus when he was 16 years old and on a mission trip in Ohio and that Bishop Hoeppner asked him to sign a letter retracting his claims in 2015.
Vasek, whose son Rev. Craig Vasek is a priest in the Diocese of Crookston, signed the letter under circumstances he described as blackmail.
A suit filed on Vasek’s behalf in May by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who specializes as an advocate for victims of abuse within the Catholic Church, is the first case in which a bishop has been sued for coercion, according to Anderson.
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