MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota
[with video]
WINONA, Minn. (WCCO) — A Minnesota woman calls it the untold story in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Jeanie Hansen says a priest beat and raped her when she went to college in Winona. Other women came forward with similar claims against the same man but the priest was never publicly named as doing anything wrong.
“I grew up looking to the church when you needed help. That’s what the church was about,” Hansen said.
Sunday Mass always marked the start of a new week for Hansen. Hansen grew up in southern Minnesota, went to an all-girls Catholic high school, settling on a similar setting in Winona for college.
She pursued a career in religious administration at St. Teresa’s in the late 70s. She met Father John Surprenant, the chaplain at the college, in her second year.
“You have to understand he was one of the only men on campus. Girls would hang on every word,” Hansen said.
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