ST. PAUL (MN)
St. Paul Pioneer Press via MN Post-Bulletin
January 29, 2020
By Sarah Horner
When asked during a recent panel discussion to explain how the sexual abuse Ben Hoffman endured by former St. Paul priest Curtis Wehmeyer impacted his life, the 26-year-old didn’t hold back.
He described how he spent years feeling somehow responsible for the abuse he and his two brothers endured as children by Wehmeyer, and how he eventually turned to drugs, alcohol and work to “fill the void” left in him.
He also found himself hating the church and the Catholic faith.
But today Hoffman is a married father to a 2-year-old boy and has reclaimed his faith. In fact, he recently left a corporate job at Best Buy to devote more time to ministry work.
Hoffman was among those attending a court hearing in the Ramsey County District Courthouse Tuesday, Jan. 28, alongside his brothers and mother.
At the hearing Ramsey County dismissed its child protection case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
It brings to an end four years of court monitoring brought about after Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed civil and criminal charges against the archdiocese for its failure in handing the clergy sex-abuse crisis.
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