OR--Secret records about ex-OR abusive cleric are released

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])

Long-secret records about a child molesting Catholic cleric who worked in Oregon have been released because abuse victims insisted on the disclosure as part of a legal settlement. Oregon church officials should tell parents, parishioners and the public about him.

He’s Father Raymond Francisco Schulte. (His photo is at BishopAccountability.org) As recently as 2010, he was living in Rome. But around 1998, he worked at three missions of the Parish of St. Patrick in Madras, Oregon (in the Baker diocese).

http://www.andersonadvocates.com/Posts/News-or-Event/62/St-Johns-Abbey-faces-new-abuse-suit.aspx

He is accused of sexually molesting a child in 1988 and of knowing about abuse by two other clerics (Br. Dunstan Moorse and Br. John Kelly). His Catholic supervisors claim he’s living a “restricted” lifestyle in Minnesota at St. John's but has reportedly traveled often, including to Italy. Two boys filed a civil abuse and cover up suit against him in 2010 and one year later, another similar suit was filed in Puerto Rico. At least one of those suits has settled. And church officials from two institutions – St. John’s Abbey and the St. Cloud diocese – have included his name on lists they’ve made public of credibly accused clerics.

Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample and Baker Bishop Liam Cary should personally visit the parishes near where Fr. Schulte lived or worked (even temporarily), begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward. They should also use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements across the entire diocese to seek out others who may have been assaulted and are still suffering. And they should permanently post on his diocesan website the names, photos and whereabouts of every child molesting Oregon are cleric, whether alive or dead, diocesan or religious order, or admitted, proven or credibly accused. (About 30 US bishops have done this. It’s the bare minimum a bishop should do to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.)

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Oregon will summon the strength to speak up. Kids are safer only when victims, witnesses and whistleblowers are courageous enough to act. Silence is tempting but it only helps wrongdoers.

It’s important that people with suspicions or knowledge of these crimes and cover ups call the independent professionals in law enforcement, not the biased amateurs in church positions.

Fr. Schulte also worked in the Bahamas, Rome, Mexico City, Raliegh (North Carolina) and two Minnesota dioceses: Crookston and St. Cloud. (More information about him is at AndersonAdvocates.com and BishopAccountability.org)

NOTE – The attorneys involved in the records release are Jeff Anderson (651 227 9990 office, 612 817 8665 cell, [email protected]) and Mike Finnegan (651 227 9990 office, 612 205 5531 cell, [email protected]). The Minnesota church spokesman who’s responsible for information about Br. Sculte is Brother Aelred Senna (320 363 2004, [email protected], 320 363 2085 phone, 320 363 3039 (fax [email protected]).

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected], [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Frank Meuers of Plymouth MN, SNAP director Southern Minnesota (952-334-5180, [email protected]), Verne Wagner of Duluth, SNAP director Northern Minnesota (218-340-1277, [email protected])

As part of Settlement, Abbey Releases Files of 18 Monks Accused of Sexual Abuse

Monks Were Allowed to Work Elsewhere After Abbey Received Abuse Reports

Dioceses of St. Cloud, Duluth & Crookston Have Not Released Files on Accused St. John’s Monks

(St. Paul, MN) – St. John’s Abbey today released personnel files of 18 of its monks who were credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. The documents in the files show that several of these monks were allowed to work at other parishes and dioceses internationally, in the United States and in Minnesota, without warning to parishioners or the public in those locations, after St. John’s Abbey received abuse reports about them.

Today’s release was required pursuant to the terms of the 2015 settlement of a sexual abuse lawsuit brought by Troy Bramlage against St. John’s Abbey and the Rev. Allen Tarlton, one of the 18 credibly accused monks. Nine of the 18 files were previously released publicly by Jeff Anderson and Associates, Bramlage’s attorneys, pursuant to the settlement in 2015. The files of the following credibly accused monks were released previously: Tarlton, Richard Eckroth, Tom Gillespie, Finian McDonald, Robert Blumeyer, Cosmas Dahlheimer, Fran Hoefgen, Othmar Hohmann and Bruce Wollmering. The other nine monk files released today are those of Michael Bik, Brennan Maiers, Dunstan Moorse, James Phillips, Francisco Schulte, Andre Bennett, Dominic Keller, James Kelly and Pirmin Wendt.

The files show that multiple accused monks were allowed to work at other locations after the Abbey received abuse reports, including:

•        Hoefgen – Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Diocese of Marquette, MI;

•        Hohmann – Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of St. Cloud

•        Tarlton – Bahamas, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archdiocese of Louisville;

•        Eckroth – Bahamas

•        Schulte – Bahamas, Rome, Mexico City, Oregon, Diocese of Crookston, Diocese of St. Cloud;

•        Moorse – Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archdiocese of Santa Fe;

•        Maiers – Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of St. Cloud

“It is alarming that so many of these credibly accused monks were allowed to work at other parishes, dioceses and communities after St. John’s Abbey received abuse reports,” said Mike Finnegan, attorney for Bramlage. “Parishioners, parents, kids and communities were not warned about the monks’ abusive past. We urge the Dioceses of St. Cloud, Duluth and Crookston to release all files and documents on these monks and any other credibly accused priests.”

Contact:          Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665

Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

Mike Bryant:  Office/320.259.5414 Cell/800.359.0061