This is a collection of all the links I've had since April 21, 2002 about the sexual abuse by monks at St. John's Abbey. Why am I doing it? Well, I knew some of the monks who have been accused. I also knew some of their victims. And when I first pointed to the stories back in April, I ended up getting email from a number of folks I knew from school who thanked me for finding the articles. I think keeping a list here is a worthwhile thing for me to do.
I've tried to keep my original comments in place with minimal editing here, but each link also has a pointer back to the day when I first commented on it, so you can read what I had to say as the story unfolded. Journalism, in the sense of keeping a journal.
Sadly, most of these links are dead, less than a month after the story started. The St. Cloud Times only keeps articles online for three days. The Star Tribune, only three weeks. Neither has set up a special archive section for these articles, and neither offers an option to purchase a copy of the article from the original link.
- Abbey confines suspect priests, three of whom taught at St. John's Prep while I was attending high school there. There were rumors about the various boys in the school who were special friends with those monks. [linked 4/21/02]
- Abbot investigates what really went on at the abbey's lake cabin. [linked 4/21/02]
- Klassen: Openness might be broadened. [linked 4/21/02]
- Payment amounts, number unknown. [linked 4/21/02]
- '85 meeting shelved abuse report. [linked 4/21/02]
- Abbey, diocese differ on sex abuse policies. [linked 4/21/02]
- Clergy accused of sexual abuse remain at St. John's Abbey. Which is a Good Thing. As Abbot Klassen says,
When they are here, they are in our community, and the public doesn' t have to worry about what is happening in the larger community.
[strib] [linked 5/2/02] - Experts look at abbey for model in handling sex abusers. Like I've been saying, St. John's Abbey keeps the monks around and isolates them from the larger community, treating them over time. It's a better solution than dumping them out into the world with their problems. The only real problem I have with the handling of abuse at St. John's is that it took them so long to admit the problems publicly. [strib] [linked 5/5/02]
- Collegeville priest among suspects in sisters' '74 slayings. More bad news for St. John's Abbey. [strib] [linked 5/8/02]
- Women accuse St. John's Abbey priest of abuse. Another person I know, this time one of the victims. Sigh. [strib] [linked 5/9/02]
- Restrictions don't confine priests to abbey; several continue to travel, but only for business purposes. There's also updates about other parts of the story. [strib] [linked 5/13/02]
- Legislature bypasses bill to extend lawsuit rights for sex abuse victims this time, but the bill will be back. The change? Allowing civil suits for sexual abuse of a minor until the victim reaches age 35, rather than the current standard of age 24. [linked 5/13/02]
- More on St. John's: St. John's Abbey let priest keep post after allegation. More details about Fr. Alan Tarlton and Fr. Richard Eckroth. [strib] [linked 5/15/02]
- '94 report: Restrict this priest (Eckroth). Once again, it sounds like the Abbey was covering things up in the 80s and early 90s, but is dealing with the issue now. Better late than never, I guess. [linked 5/15/02]
- St. John's Abbey faces new lawsuit. Fr. Dunstan Moorse is accused in the new suit, and there's more information about Fr. Cosmos Dahlheimer. [some guy] [linked 5/18/02]
- St. Cloud Diocese to revise sex-abuse policy. If I remember right, St. John's Abbey doesn't report to the diocese, since monasteries are handled differently than parishes, but I'm not sure of the heirarchy anymore. [strib] [linked 5/18/02]
- Sins of a Father: 'Sauna Kids' Abuse - More on the abuses of Fr. Richard Eckroth. [linked 5/18/02]
- St. John's scandal shows need for legal reform, abuse victims say (MPR News) [linked 5/18/02]
- St. John's Abbey: Accused priest continued working after 1980s allegation [linked 5/18/02]
- Linkup's Links for Abuse Survivors [linked 5/18/02]
- Poynter.org - Clergy Abuse Tracker is a weblog exclusively covering clergy abuse. [linked 5/18/02]
- St. John's runs the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute (ISTI). [linked 5/18/02]
- Abbot transferred accused priest to school, papers show.
Abbot Jerome Theisen, who died in 1995, indicated in a letter that he knew about allegations against Moorse before sending him to Benilde-St. Margaret High School in St. Louis Park in the late 1980s.
[linked 5/18/02] - 3rd abuse lawsuit emerges against St. John's Abbey monk. Fr. Dunstan Moorse again. [linked 5/18/02]
- St. John's community wonders about its future in light of allegations. Donations are drying up. This quotes Joe Wright, who was a student at SJP one year ahead of me, quite a bit.[linked 5/27/02]