Fr. David A. Roney

Ordained for St. Paul, incardinated into the New Ulm diocese when it formed in 1957. Lawsuits were filed in 8/2003 by two women claiming sexual abuse as children by Roney 1967-1980. Two more filed suit in 9/2003. The Diocese said two previous lawsuits settled. The Diocese learned of Roney’s conduct in 1987 and sent him for evaluation and treatment. He was allowed to minister at San Lucas Toliman Mission in Guatemala beginning in 1994. He was removed from active retirement in 2002 and died in 1/2003 in Guatemala, at age 82. Two women settled in 2005. The case of four more women was dismissed by the MN Court of Appeals 8/31/2010. More suits were pending in 9/2013. There are more than 30 accusers of abuse by Roney, at least one as young as age 7. Roney’s name was included on a New Ulm list released by Attorney Jeff Anderson 8/04/2014. The names were from a deposition of Rev. Francis Garvey, a former top New Ulm Diocese official, taken in 1/2014. Roney’s name was added 11/3/2017 to the St. Paul-Minneapolis list of “priests and religious brothers who have served or spent time in the archdiocese and have substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor against them.”