Search Results for: erickson

Diocese of Oakland priest accused of child sexual abuse in a current lawsuit still in ministry in Orinda

As far as SNAP can tell, the faithful were never alerted and the cleric was never suspended

Survivors’ group wonders why the promises of the Dallas Charter were ignored?

Victims and advocates urge Bishop Michael Barber to be transparent with the parishioners of his Diocese and the public and explain why this happened

WHAT: Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and advocates will:

— Discuss whether the failure of the Diocese of Oakland to remove an accused priest from ministry while the claim is still pending, along with the recent motion in bankruptcy court to hide the names of those sued in the civil window, is part of a deliberate strategy to keep information about child sexual abuse secret;

— Urge Bishop Michael Barber to come clean to…

We devote considerable time and energy to exposing child-molesting clerics in this space. However, there’s a kind of criminal who arguably does even more harm than a sexual predator. A murderer. This week, a Buffalo newspaper reported that Fr. John D. Lewandowski was sent to a church mansion (where several abusive priests lived), where homicide detectives questioned and fingerprinted him as a suspect in the murder of a fellow priest. Fr. Lewandowski now faces at least four civil child sex abuse lawsuits. That got us thinking about other murders that are associated with predator priests. There are a surprising number of such cases.

1. In 2022, Fr. Ryan Erickson was listed on a Michigan Diocese’s ‘credibly accused’ list. A special hearing in 2005 found there was ‘probable cause’ to rule he likely murdered Dan O’Connell and James Ellison. (Fr. Erickson admitted the killings to a…

Last week the Diocese of Superior released a list of 23 priests who have “credibly accused” of raping or sexually abusing children. Four priests in the Pierce and St. Croix county area were included on the list.

The four priests are Ryan Erickson of Hudson, Joseph Higgins of River Falls, Donald Dummer of River Falls and James Kraker of Hammond.

All have been removed from ministry. Three have died.

Erickson had a single allegation of abuse between 2000 and 2003 in Hudson. He was removed from the ministry in December 2004. He died in December 2004.

Higgins had a single allegation of abuse in the late 1960’s in River Falls. He was removed from the ministry in February 1974. He died in February 1974.

Dummer was a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). He was not a member of the Diocese of Superior but practiced in River…

The United Church of Canada (UNC) in Saskatchewan issued a strong statement blasting church-run Legacy Christian Academy (LCA) and the Mile Two Church following the publication of a $25-million sexual abuse case in August against the school.

Threats Against Sexual Abuse Survivors

According to a report by Global News, the United Church of Canada denounced the threats directed toward sexual abuse survivors like Caitlin Erickson. Erickson studied at the LCA, where she allegedly suffered sexual abuse.

The news outlet said Erickson and fellow survivors’ public rebuke of the negative experience they had in the hands of Legacy Christian Academy teachers triggered the anonymous threats.

Erickson reportedly showed copies of email messages she received, one of which told her to “stop talking to the press, if you value your life,” coupled with a Bible verse saying, “For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).”

Aside from the threatening emails,…

Madison – The Diocese of Superior has named 23 priests that it believes have been credibly accused of sexual abuse over the course of its history, including one priest removed from the ministry in September over accusations from the 1990s.

According to the records, James Bartelme was placed on administrative leave on September 8, relating to a single allegation of abuse that occurred in 1990 and 1991 in Superior. According to a 2021 guest column in the Catholic Herald, Bartelme, 71, is a retired priest.

No charges been filed against Bartelme related to sexual abuse , according to a state court records search.

Bartelme was placed on leave as a result of the review, Dan Blank, the director of administrative services for the diocese, said Wednesday. Blank said that the files or accusations regarding Bartelme won’t be turned over at this time to law enforcement or the Attorney General, who…

The Diocese of Superior released a list Tuesday of all the priests connected to their congregation who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor.

This list of names is the result of three separate clergy file reviews, including one by a private independent security consulting firm, more than a year of meetings, and multiple sessions with the Diocesan Review Board.

The list includes the names of 23 priests with allegations against them. Of them, 20 are deceased.

The news release read, “Bishop of the Superior Diocese, the Most Rev. James Powers, sincerely acknowledges the sinful harms of the past, apologizes on behalf of the local Church, and prays for the healing of all victims-survivors and their affected families and friends.”

He was quoted saying, “I wish we could go back in time and undo all of the hurt and pain, the sins of the past. But we cannot……

A Canadian church plans to terminate a rental agreement with a Christian school due to its connection to a lawsuit involving former students accusing local private school officials of abuse. 

Forest Grove Community Church of Saskatoon made a public announcement Monday that it will terminate Grace Christian School’s lease next month.

At issue is a Grace Christian employee being named in a class-action lawsuit by several former students of another school, Legacy Christian Academy, over allegations of abuse by school officials, including allegations of forced exorcisms. 

The termination comes after it was discovered that Grace Christian School had hired staff who previously worked at LCA. Last week, Saskatchewan’s education ministry appointed administrators to oversee LCA, Grace Christian and a third school that employs someone named in the lawsuit, Regent Academy in Prince Albert. 

“Forest Grove Community Church’s operations staff and church leadership have reviewed our…

Warning: Some details in this article may be disturbing to readers

Former students are working to bring a class action lawsuit against the Saskatoon school where they allege they suffered physical and sexual abuse.

Friends, family and other past students of Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy — now called Legacy Christian Academy (LCA) — gathered outside a Saskatoon courthouse on Tuesday to announce the legal action.

“I am so thankful for so many of my peers that have found the courage to tell their stories so that we may move forward to a place of healing,” Caitlin Erickson said.

“The staff tried to physically and psychologically break me, despite their best efforts they were not successful, and that’s why I’m able to stand here today.”

Erickson attended the school from 1992 to 2005. She and other students have recently come forward alleging that staff routinely paddled students and engaged in “controlling…

Beginning Oct. 1, unlicensed religious boarding schools in Missouri must notify the state they are operating as part of an attempt to address possible abuse and neglect at the often shadowy facilities.

Under a series of emergency rules filed this week by the Missouri Department of Social Services, the schools also will have to begin fingerprinting employees in order for the state to determine if workers are sex offenders or have other criminal records.

“The background checks are being conducted to help ensure that certain individuals who are associated with these facilities do not have a record of criminal conduct or substantiated incidents of child abuse or neglect which may pose a risk to the children served at these facilities,” the new rule says.

The filing of the rules is the latest step in a series of actions by state lawmakers and local law enforcement…

FARGO (ND)
KVRR TV

July 8, 2019

By Austin Erickson

Attorneys for an alleged sexual assault survivor say the Fargo Diocese told them “it was her fault” after coming forward.

The law firms of Bradshaw and Bryant and O’Keeffe O’Brien Lyson Foss will hold a press conference Thursday, July 11 in Fargo. They claim Father Michael Wright abused someone at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Belcourt, North Dakota.

Lawyers claim the Diocese responded by “blaming the survivor and shipping Father Michael Wright back to Texas to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity community without an investigation.” They also say the SOLT sent Father Wright to counseling following the alleged assault which they call “reprehensible.”

The firms demand the Diocese disclose its list of known offending priests. They’re also calling on the North Dakota legislature to open up the statute of limitations so “offenders can no…

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

January 26, 2019

By Susan Edelman

On his hospital deathbed, Stephen Erickson, 55, finally got a chance to testify under oath that the janitor at his Catholic middle school had repeatedly raped him as a boy.

He hoped a jury would hear his words of anguish from beyond the grave.

In a highly unusual move, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly last month granted an emergency request to let Erickson give a sworn statement to “preserve his testimony” for a lawsuit he wanted to file against the church.

Wasting away from terminal skin cancer, Erickson gave a videotaped sworn statement from his bed at Albany Medical Center on Dec. 12.

He died seven days later.

According to a transcript obtained by The Post, Erickson accused Eugene Hubert, a janitor at St. Teresa of Avila School in Albany, which he attended in 1977 to…

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post Dispatch

January 25, 2019

By Kurt Erickson

An estimated 70 people have completed an online form saying they were either a victim or a witness to abuse by Catholic priests as part of an investigation underway by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

That number is up from the 50 survivors and potential witnesses who contacted the office in the first month of the probe, which was launched in August by Schmitt’s predecessor, Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Although a spokesman for Schmitt provided an update on how many people have contacted the office, he said he could not provide answers to the Post-Dispatch about other aspects of the investigation, including how many attorneys are working on the case and whether there is a timeline to conclude the proceedings.

“The other questions I can’t comment on since this is an ongoing investigation,” said Chris Nuelle.

AUSTRALIA
The Washington Post

May 22, 2018

By Amanda Erickson

Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson knew, the men told the court.

He knew that the Rev. Jim Fletcher had been sexually abusing young altar servers. He knew because they told him. He knew because they asked him for help.

Now, Wilson is going to jail.

The Roman Catholic leader was convicted of failing to act on reports of child sex abuse. He faces as much as two years in prison. The 67-year-old is the most senior Catholic leader to ever be charged with concealing abuse.

In the courtroom, Peter Creigh testified that Fletcher made him strip and kneel as he masturbated. He was abused at 10, he said, and he told Wilson about it in 1976, when he was 15. Wilson was a parish priest at the time. Another former altar boy said he brought his concerns to Wilson,…

NEW YORK
Friendly Atheist

APRIL 30, 2018

BY TERRY FIRMA

When the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York recently released a list of priests credibly accused of child sex abuse, parishioners in Angola, 20 miles to the south, were in disbelief. Because on that list were four priests who had served their town of just over 2,000 people.

What … set Most Precious Blood [the parish church] apart from other parishes was the span in which one accused priest after another worked in the parish for nearly 30 consecutive years.

The Rev. Fred G. Fingerle was assigned as an associate pastor there from 1967 to 1977, except for one year at another parish in 1970. Fingerle was succeeded by the Rev. John P. Hajduk from 1977 to 1982. And Hajduk was followed by Monsignor J. Grant Higgins, who served as pastor from 1983 until 1997.

I wonder if they…

NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz

April 29, 2018

Members of Most Precious Blood Church in Angola were as stunned as any Catholics – and maybe more so – when the Diocese of Buffalo in March publicly named 42 priests who had been accused of child sex abuse.

The list released by Bishop Richard J. Malone included not just one priest who served in the village parish, but four. Parishioners had no idea.

“The sticker shock was the number, not that it had happened,” said longtime member Karen A. Erickson. “The sticker shock of so many in your community was what had people talking.”

What also set Most Precious Blood apart from other parishes was the span in which one accused priest after another worked in the parish for nearly 30 consecutive years.

The Rev. Fred G. Fingerle was assigned as an associate pastor there from 1967 to…

ROME
The Washington Post

March 25, 2018

By Amanda Erickson

On Saturday, hundreds of young Catholics gathered to give Pope Francis a piece of their minds.

They called for a more transparent and “authentic” church, one with a bigger role for women and more wisdom about the benefits and challenges of technology. They called for more flexibility, too, arguing that “unreachable” moral standards should not be the only way to live an authentically Catholic life.

These findings were part of a 16-page report assembled by 300 young people at a week-long conference sponsored by the Vatican. It drew, too, on online submissions from 15,000 others.

“We, the young church, ask that our leaders speak in practical terms about subjects such as homosexuality and gender issues, about which young people are already freely discussing,” the report said.

UNITED KINGDOM
Newham Recorder

A pastor who admitted making and possessing indecent images of children has been jailed.

Daniel Erickson-Hull, of Prince Regent Lane, Plaistow, was sentenced to 15 months behind bars at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.

The 41-year-old, also known as Pastor D, was a preacher at the Higher Ground United Reformed Church in Chigwell.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph, and one count of possessing an indecent photograph, at an earlier hearing.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Tom Weber, Jo Erickson Dec 28, 2016

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in 2017 while continuing to rebuild trust with Catholics dismayed by the priest sex abuse scandal.

In an interview with MPR News host Tom Weber, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said the work to gain trust will never truly end. However, he was pleased with recent statements from the judge in the case and the Ramsey County Attorney’s office that the archdiocese is making progress.

Last weekend, Hebda delivered his first Christmas Mass since becoming the archbishop for the Twin Cities.

He spent a year as a temporary administrator, which many, including Hebda, assumed would last a short time. Then Pope Francis surprised everyone by assigning Hebda to the Twin Cities Archdiocese permanently.

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: July 6, 2016

PINE CITY, Minn. — Attorneys for a religious sect leader charged with sexually assaulting girls at his compound in rural Minnesota are questioning whether the statute of limitations has expired in the case.

Defense attorney Marsh Halberg says a prior report on Victor Barnard would have started the legal clock on filing charges earlier than 2012. Barnard, 54, was charged in 2014 with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct after two of his former followers at River Road Fellowship told of his abuse starting when they were 12 and 13 years old.

The statute of limitations is three years from when a report is filed. Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson says there is no direct victim report prior to 2012.

MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Mar. 25, 2016

WORCESTER – A former church elder who took about $3.4 million from about 25 people in a Ponzi scheme from 2010 to 2014 entered a plea deal this week with a federal prosecutor that calls for 24 to 41 months in prison and more than $1.6 million restitution.

Charles L. Erickson of Uxbridge waived the indictment and pleaded guilty to wire fraud Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Mr. Erickson, who will be sentenced June 28, faced up to 20 years’ incarceration. He is also subject to 36 months of supervised release, according to terms of the plea agreement in the court.

The criminal complaint by FBI Special Agent Bryan McKay in September said Mr. Erickson began collecting money around 2010 from investors for trading futures contracts. Those are contracts between two parties to…

UNITED STATES
Brain Blogger

by Richard Kensinger, MSW | March 18, 2016

I am prompted to compose this article for two primary reasons. First, I live in a Catholic Diocese (Altoona-Johnstown, PA) where a grand jury report very recently exposed that over four decades, over 50 priests and other church officials have harbored, protected, and enabled the victimization and mortification of hundreds of innocent children and youth in our community. Second, an article appearing in the New York Times written by Frank Bruni and published this past week, explores the impact of child sex predators in the Boston, Mass. Archdiocese.

These incidents are revealed in the searing and troubling movie Spotlight. This movie’s focus is on the very courageous efforts of investigative journalists to expose the wide complicity of many in that community who protected these predators. The article is entitled “The Catholic Churches Sins Are Ours”.

In Bruni’s…

MICHIGAN
MLive

SNAP President Barbara Blaine and Phillip Frederickson hold signs and pictures of children sexually abused by priests during a call-to-action at the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 in which they hand-delivered a letter to the diocese to publicly urge Michigan bishops to seek out anyone who may have been hurt by a now-disgraced Twin Cities Archbishop.

MASSACHUSETTS
Essex District Attorney’s Office

The Essex District Attorney’s Office today withdrew its petition to hold Ronald H. Paquin as a sexually dangerous person. Neither of the experts who examined him found him “sexually dangerous,” therefore, the District Attorney’s Office must, by law, withdraw its petition.

“Our contention is that Mr. Paquin poses a danger to the community,” District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. “Unfortunately, we have no further legal options available to hold Mr. Paquin.”

Paquin, a former priest in Haverhill, pleaded guilty to 3 counts of rape of a child in December of 2002 and was sentenced to 12-15 years in state prison. The rapes took place in Haverhill between 1989 and 1992, beginning when the victim was 12 years old.

Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 123A, Section 1, the Commonwealth may file a civil commitment petition to hold a person believed to be sexually dangerous upon completion…

WISCONSIN
Hudson Star-Observer

By Randy Hanson

Tom O’Connell has requested a meeting with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to the United States later this month.

The Hudson funeral home owner would like to talk to the pope about his son Daniel, who was murdered in 2002 by a parish priest thought to be trying to conceal his sexual abuse of young boys.

It is widely believed that Daniel O’Connell was preparing to confront Father Ryan Erickson about the abuse when the priest came to O’Connell Family Funeral Home and gunned down the 39-year-old funeral director and 22-year-old student intern James Ellison.

Erickson hung himself in December 2004 at the Hurley church he was then serving. Hudson police detectives had interviewed him earlier and identified him as a suspect in the murders.

“I am asking for myself and my family to have an audience with your Holiness. I realize…

MASSACHUSETTS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Mark Sullivan
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Jun. 3, 2015

ASHLAND – A church whose members allegedly were targeted in a $3.5 million Ponzi scheme run by a former elder of the congregation says it is encouraging members who “may have fallen victim” to assist in the investigation.

Charles L. Erickson, former director of MetroWest Ministries in Ashland, is alleged to have bilked investors of millions in a pyramid investment scheme he claimed was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

A complaint filed by the securities division of the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office charges Mr. Erickson defrauded at least 25 investors, about a third of them recruited from his Ashland congregation.

The Connect Community Church in Ashland released the following statement:

“Five months ago, one of the members of the church, Charles Erickson, resigned his membership in the church acknowledging that he…

MONTANA
Missoulian

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

[Non-monetary commitments]

Although hundreds of sexual abuse victims who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena stand to share a $20 million settlement, a pair of Missoula attorneys who represented the survivors say the non-monetary portion of the settlement – including a requirement that churches establish a “whistleblower” policy – is equally important.

Milt Datsopoulos and Molly Howard of the Missoula law firm Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind represented many of the plaintiffs in the case, which began in 2011 when more than 360 abuse victims filed suit against the clergy, alleging that more than 80 ordained priests, Ursuline Sisters and other church employees committed everything from rape to fondling to illegal photography of children.

The alleged abuse occurred from the 1940s to the 1970s at various parishes all over the Northwest, but a majority happened at the St. Ignatius Mission and the Ursuline…

CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | May. 1, 2015 NCR Today

SAN FRANCISCO
Supporters of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone have moved their May 16 picnic to a different venue in the city.

They will gather at 11 a.m. at Sue Bierman Park at The Embarcadero and Washington Street. The event was originally planned for Little Marina Green, but another event with more than 3,000 participants was scheduled at Marina Green for the same time, said Eva Muntean, who started the website sfcatholics.org. She added that city officials were concerned the number of people from both events would be too large.

Muntean, organizer of the annual Walk for Life in San Francisco, started the trilingual (English, Spanish and Chinese) website after parents, students and teachers at four archdiocesan high schools began protesting Cordileone’s decision to change aspects of the teachers’ employment.

One of the changes is an…

SAN FRANCISCO
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | Apr. 28, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO Labor leaders and union members joined teachers, parents and students from archdiocesan high schools here Monday to rally against Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s proposal to change aspects of their employment.

Gathering in front of the archdiocesan offices at 1 Peter Yorke Way, a crowd of more than 200 protested the archbishop’s plan to reclassify the teachers as “ministers,” thereby providing them with fewer legal protections, and to insert a morality clause into their handbook.

The morality clause condemns same-sex marriage, contraception and use of reproductive technology, among other things, and expects employees to accept “these truths” outside the workplace.

“The church has told us that it honors all civil rights and labor rights,” said Art Pulaski, chief officer of the California Labor Federation, speaking before the crowd gathered in the blocked-off street. “You cannot profess social justice…

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | Mar. 26, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO
In a packed auditorium at Star of the Sea School in San Francisco on Wednesday, parents told representatives of the archdiocese to remove the parish’s two priests.

After describing the changes that Fr. Joseph Illo, administrator, has instituted at the school since his arrival and the effects on their children, most of the parents concluded their talks by saying, “We respectfully ask that Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll be removed from Star of the Sea.”

The audience frequently clapped and cheered while Illo and associate pastor Patrick Driscoll faced the audience and the speakers. Auxiliary Bishop William Justice and Fr. Raymund Reyes, vicar for clergy, also attended the meeting. Reyes took notes; Justice said they would pass the parents’ comments on to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

Justice added that recently, the archdiocese has…

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: March 4, 2015

Fugitive cult leader Victor Barnard is behind bars in Brazil, but getting him behind bars in Minnesota could take years.

Frustrated Pine County officials are waiting to hear whether Barnard is going to fight the extradition order that would bring him back to face 59 counts of sexual assault against young girls in his congregation. Barnard, 53, spent three years on the run in Brazil before his arrest Friday in the coastal resort town of Pipa.

“At the very earliest, one month. At the very latest, we’re talking three years,” said newly elected Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson. “We don’t know. If he waives extradition, it will be one month. If he wants to fight it, it’s a one- to three-year process, depending on his life circumstances.”

Barnard left Pine County in 2010 bankrupt and under a cloud…

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

12/15/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

I am hearing rumors that another investigation is underway in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, with people being contacted for questioning by William McNab of Winthrop & Weinstine. However, in this case it does not appear as though the topic is the conduct or misconduct of Archbishop Nienstedt. Rather, what I am hearing is that the questions asked relate to Father Kevin McDonough.

McDonough has, of course, been under fire before. The docsociety (founded in the aftermath of the 2002 murder of Dan O’Connell and James Ellison by Reverend Ryan Erickson), began calling for his resignation from Archdiocesan duties as early as 2006 (see the organization’s ‘Founding Document’).

And, those who have been ordained in recent years or who have taken prominent positions within the Chancery will recall that the publication of those events in The Catholic Spirit would…

MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Olson

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has released the names of another 24 priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

The priests include: John Brown, Ralph Goniea, Paul Palmitessa, Robert Thurner, Edward Beutner, Rudolph Henrich, Joseph Pinkosh, Roger Vaughn, Robert Clark, Reginald Krakovsky, Charles Potocki, Clarence Vavra, Thomas Erickson, Harry Majerus, Robert Ruglovsky, Raymond Walter, Ambrose Filbin, William Marks, James Stark, Adalbert Wolski, Kenneth Gansmann, James Nickel, Michael Stevens and Francis Zachman.

At least six of the priests worked in the Diocese of New Ulm: Clark, Filbin, Henrich, Krakovsky, Majerus and Marks.

The disclosure is part of the archdiocese’s historic settlement and subsequent action plan, which was announced Oct. 13. The case accused Catholic church leaders in Minnesota of creating a public nuisance by failing to warn parishioners about an abusive priest.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release

November 5, 2014

New files released as part of the Doe 1 settlement and child protection action plan

(St. Paul, MN) – The files of 24 priests who are the subject of substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis were publicly released today. This disclosure of files was agreed upon as part of the settlement of the Doe 1 civil lawsuit and is an early step in the child protection action plan announced October 13, 2014.

At least six of the priests* whose files were released worked in the Diocese of New Ulm. To date, the Diocese of New Ulm refuses to release their list and documents pertaining to clerics credibly accused of child sexual abuse. In a hearing today at 3:00PM in Ramsey County, the Diocese of New Ulm and Diocese of Duluth…

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

The Names of 17 Priests Accused of Child Sexual Abuse Added to Archdiocese’s List of Abusers

Disclosures part of Doe 1 settlement and child protection action plan

Documents and priest files on all 17 priests soon to follow

(St. Paul, MN) – Today, the names of 17 additional priests who are the subject of substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors were added to Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis’ disclosure lists posted on its website. In addition, three men whose names were previously identified as having unsubstantiated claims are now added to the substantiated claim disclosure list. This disclosure of names was agreed upon as part of the settlement of the Doe 1 civil lawsuit and is an early step in the child protection action plan announced last week.

At least four of the names* announced today have never been released to the…

MONTANA
Wisconsin State Journal

In the Spirit: Madison Bishop Robert Morlino’s former diocese to file for bankruptcy

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

The Catholic Diocese of Helena, Mont., will file for bankruptcy reorganization Friday as part of its effort to resolve two lawsuits that claim clergy members sexually abused 362 people over several decades and the church covered it up.

Madison Bishop Robert Morlino served as bishop of the Helena diocese from 1999-2003. The lawsuits were filed in 2011 and relate to allegations of abuse from the 1940s to the 1970s, according to the Associated Press.

The allegations pre-date Morlino’s tenure in Helena, and he has not been brought into any conversations related to the lawsuits, said Brent King, spokesman for the Madison Catholic Diocese.

A statement released Friday by the Helena diocese said the details of the settlements are still being worked out…

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/09/2013

The new members of a task force on clergy sexual misconduct in the Twin Cities archdiocese were announced Wednesday afternoon.

The members are Medtronic attorney Kathleen Erickson DiGiorno, who will chair the task force; University of St. Thomas law professor Julie Oseid; former St. Paul police sergeant and Internet sex crimes expert Brook Schaub; Brian Short, CEO of Leamington Co. and former board member of Catholic Charities; Colleen Striegel, former human resources director of the University of St. Thomas; and sex offender treatment psychologist Michael D. Thompson.

University of St. Thomas law professor and priest the Rev. Reginald Whitt told reporters Wednesday that the new Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force will examine policies and procedures of the archdiocese in the area of clergy misconduct.

He noted that recent news stories have reported on priests involved in…

WISCONSIN
Wisconsin State Journal

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

When Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino was a parish priest in Kalamazoo, Mich., he handled the issue of altar servers by using all girls one weekend, then all boys the next, he said. The alternating schedule helped eliminate “distractions,” he said.

That was just one of many items I didn’t have space for in Sunday’s article on Morlino’s 10-year tenure. A few others:

On how he’ll mark his 10-year anniversary Thursday. “I’m not so much into celebrating myself, although I’m totally grateful for the 10 years I’ve had here. Only God knows how truly grateful I am.” He’s more inclined to have a little gathering next year upon his 40th anniversary as a priest, he said.

On how he handles criticism: “I’ve certainly grown in my ability to deal with that aspect of my life…

WISCONSIN
Wisconsin State Journal

[Away from diocesan work, Robert Morlino is an easygoing guy who keeps it light]

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

Center of controversy

Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino has found himself at the center of numerous controversies and dust-ups in the past decade. A sampling:

ISSUE: Six months into his tenure, Morlino wrote in the Catholic Herald newspaper that Madison appears to be a community that has “a high comfort level with virtually no public morality.” The episode outraged many residents and kicked off a continuing parlor game of parsing his every utterance.

OUTCOME: Morlino said he meant no offense and was merely pointing out that there are few common starting points for discussions about moral reasoning in such a diverse city.

ISSUE: In 2005, Morlino joined a federal advisory board for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a training…

WISCONSIN
Wisconsin State Journal

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

Bishop Robert Morlino is continuing to put more distance between the Madison Catholic Diocese and Holy Wisdom Monastery, a former Catholic monastery on the outskirts of Madison that is now a non-Catholic ecumenical retreat center.

In the latest development, Morlino is now prohibiting priests in the diocese from “attendance or participation at all events held at Holy Wisdom Monastery and all events sponsored or co-sponsored by Holy Wisdom Monastery or the Benedictine Women of Madison,” according to a March 7 letter to priests leaked to the State Journal.

A February visit to the monastery by Sister Simone Campbell, an outspoken, progressive Catholic nun, appeared to be the final straw for Morlino.

MINNESOTA
Brainerd Dispatch

Presently, Minnesota law limits lawsuits made against sexual assailants by victims to six years after they turn 18. A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers want to eliminate that time restriction.

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, and House Reps. Steve Simon, (DFL-St. Louis Park), and Sondra Erickson, (R-Princeton), made the announcement with child victim advocates during a press conference Wednesday.

The proposed bill would lift the statute of limitations entirely, which would allow adults who had been abused as children to file lawsuits at any time.

WISCONSIN
Wisconsin State Journal

Bishop Robert Morlino cracks down on Madison nuns for espousing ‘New Ageism’ and ‘indifferentism’

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

Two longtime Madison nuns who lead an interfaith spirituality center have been banned by Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino from holding workshops or providing spiritual direction or guidance at any Catholic churches in the 11-county diocese.

Sisters Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both Sinsinawa Dominicans, have diverged too far from Catholic teaching, according to a confidential memo sent Nov. 27 to priests on behalf of Morlino. A copy of the memo was leaked to the State Journal.

Two other women connected to the interfaith center, called Wisdom’s Well, also have been banned as part of the same action.

The memo says Morlino has “grave concerns” about the women’s teachings, specifically that they “espouse certain views” flowing from such movements as “New…

ILLINOIS
Pantagraph

Former Lincoln priest, a convicted sex offender, ordered to stop practicing psychology

By Kurt Erickson | kurt.erickson@lee.net

SPRINGFIELD -State regulators have ordered a former Catholic priest and convicted sex offender in Lincoln to stop the unlicensed practice of clinical psychology.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation found Francis A. Benham had been claiming he was a doctor who provides psychotherapy services when he had neither a doctorate degree nor a state license to practice as a clinical psychologist.

Records show Benham had business cards identifying him as a doctor and advertised himself in a local phone directory as a “psychotherapist.”

The new citation, signed by agency director Jay Stewart, is the latest in a series of legal problems the 74-year-old has faced. Benham was arrested in Lincoln in July 2004 on sex charges and was extradited to Maryland where he was convicted of having sex…

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

In announcing his decision to remove the statue of Joe Paterno from outside of the Penn State football stadium Penn State President Rod Erickson stated that the 7 foot statue of Joe Pa “has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing”. Erickson added “I believe that, were it to remain, the statue would be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse”.

On the same day that a forklift lowered the statue of Penn State’s disgraced football coach onto a flatbed truck to be carried away and placed into storage the President of the NCAA Mark Emmert announced that “corrective and punitive measures” would be taken against Penn State adding that he had “never seen anything as egregious”. The NCAA will announce its sanctions against Penn State on Monday noting…

PENNSYLVANIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 25, 2012

Penn State must have something to hide. And it’s bad enough that they’re trying to bamboozle victims into gag orders.

From the Philadelphia Enquirer:

… School president Rodney Erickson said in a statement released just after the 45 guilty verdicts against Sandusky were brought in Friday night, ”The purpose of the program is simple. The university wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously, and fairly address the victims’ concerns and compensate them for claims.” (emphasis mine)

Even the US Catholic Bishops have a rule against gag-orders, (Article 3 of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People). They give it the run-around as much as they can, but still.

MADISON (WI)
Wisconsin State Journal

[letter from Bishop Morlino]

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com

Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino has moved to quell a backlash against a group of conservative priests in Platteville by warning parishioners they risk formal church censure unless they stop spreading “rumors and gossip.”

The action by Morlino, which two Catholic scholars called highly unusual, appears to include the possibility of offenders being prohibited from taking part in church sacraments such as communion, confession and burial.

The warning came in a five-page letter Wednesday from Morlino to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Platteville. The congregation has been roiled by opposition to the traditionalist priests, who began serving the parish in June 2010.

Within months, church donations fell by more than half, and about 40 percent of the church’s 1,200 members signed a petition seeking the priests’ ouster. The church’s 77-year-old school…

HUDSON (WI)
Hudson Star-Observer

By: Doug Stohlberg, Hudson Star-Observer

Feb. 5, 2012 marks the 10-year anniversary of Hudson’s most infamous crime — the double murder of funeral home director Dan O’Connell and his student intern, James Ellison.

Making the case even more bizarre was that the murders were committed by a Catholic priest, Ryan Erickson. It took nearly three years to finally put together the necessary evidence and solve the case. Erickson died of suicide as the police dragnet closed around him.

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon on Feb. 5, 2002, when police received a call at about 1:40 p.m. from Marty Shanklin, the St. Croix County medical examiner. He had stopped at the O’Connell Funeral home at 520 11th St. to collect routine signatures on a death certificate.

WISCONSIN
Pierce County Herald

By: Doug Stohlberg, Pierce County Herald

Feb 5 marks the 10-year anniversary of Hudson’s most infamous crime — the double murder of funeral home director Dan O’Connell and his student intern, James Ellison.

Making the case even more bizarre was that the murders were committed by a Catholic priest, Ryan Erickson. It took nearly three years to finally put together the necessary evidence and solve the case. Erickson died of suicide as the police dragnet closed around him.

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon on Feb. 5, 2002, when police received a call at about 1:40 p.m. from Marty Shanklin, the St. Croix County medical examiner. He had stopped at the O’Connell Funeral home at 520 11th St. to collect routine signatures on a death certificate.