ST. PAUL (MN)
Minneapolis Star Tribune
January 24, 2018
By Jean Hopfensperger
He is removed from ministry pending inquiry.
A Carver priest has been removed from ministry following allegations of misconduct, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Wednesday.
The Rev. Thomas Joseph, parochial administrator at the Church of St. Nicholas in Carver, will be removed from ministry pending the outcome of a police investigation.
The archdiocese said it was contacted by an adult who alleged that Joseph had engaged in inappropriate conduct. It reported the claim to law enforcement.
No details of the alleged victim or misconduct were provided.
Joseph issued a statement on the archdiocese’s website, expressing “surprise and dismay” at the allegations.
“While I am prepared to cooperate with this investigation to clear my good name and the name of the Church, I wish to emphasize my innocence,” he wrote.
The move comes a day after a Catholic priest pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County. The Rev. Jacob Andrew Bertrand, from California, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact with a young woman while saying mass in the basement of her parents’ home in 2010.
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