The Worthy Adversary

Category: armored child

  • Did Missouri’s taxpayers foot the bill for an out-of-state sex offending priest?

    MedicaidFraudWords

    You bet they did.

    A wealthy Minnesota Catholic religious order and a Catholic-owned rehabilitation hospital engaged in potential Missouri Medicaid insurance fraud to get free health care for a sex-offending priest, a newly released document shows.

    The 2014 document, released as a part of a legal settlement against the Benedictines of Minnesota and sex-offending priests, show that the order withheld money from a priest in their employ—so that he would seem indigent and his health care would be paid for by the State of Missouri.

    The document is stamped OSB McDONALD-OO861. It is page 420 of the pdf at the link.

    The priest, Fr. Finian McDonald, admitted to having more than 200 sex “partners,” including his college-age counseling clients, high schoolers, sex trafficked children in South East Asia, and other adults. He was sent to a church-operated center for sex-offending clerics in Dittmer, Missouri in 2012.

    He became ill in 2014 and was sent to Price Memorial, a nursing home run by Franciscan Missionary Brothers in Eureka, MO. The social service director of Price Memorial, Julie Whitley, LCSW, is copied on the memo.

    The Benedictines own St. John’s University and Prep School in Minnesota, as well as a sprawling 2500-acre campus outside of the Twin Cities. They also own a publishing company. I think they could afford McDonald’s bill.

    The letter, signed by Abbot John Klassen, the head of the Benedictines, and sent to McDonald and representatives at Price Memorial, says that the Benedictines can only send McDonald $45 a month. Otherwise, the letter goes on to say, “any money over $45/mo impacts the aid that you receive from the State of Missouri.”

    McDonald is now back in Minnesota.

    And Missouri is stuck with the bill.

    Hopefully, local authorities will take a look. If Missouri’s taxpayers have been bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I think an investigation is in order.

  • Sex offending monks have no contact with students … or do they?

     

    From the statement by St. John’s (MN) Abbey regarding the recent release of of the personnel files of five sex-offending monks:

    “The files provided include those of monks currently living on the Saint John’s campus under safety plans. Their actions are limited and they are closely supervised.”

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    St. John’s Abbey and Prep School, with location key

    Hmmm … if the 6th though 12th graders at the prep school want to get something to eat or attend Mass, how do they avoid all of those pesky sex-offending monks in the Monastic Residence?

    And unless those pesky monks have ankle monitoring bracelets (which they don’t), how is the St. John’s management able to keep the offenders away from the kids? Do they show the 6th graders photos of Finian McDonald and say, “If you see this man, run away!”?

    If your child’s school has had a sex abuse scandal or houses numerous sex-offending priests, think about other education options. The school will always lie and minimize (just like in this case) so that they can take your tuition money and run.

    Speaking of money, tomorrow I’ll discuss how the monks engaged in Medicare/insurance fraud in the state of Missouri.

  • Vatican thwarts review boards, documents show

    St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN.
                              St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN.

    Everything the bishops have been led you to believe about the independent power of lay review boards is deliberately misleading.

    Citing a sex-offening priest’s “right to privacy,” a newly released Vatican document shows that priests are able to shield potentially damning evidence from review boards who are charged with determining whether abuse allegations against a priest have merit.

    The 2006 document, sent from a Vatican office that oversees religious orders, says that canon law states that no priest’s files may be turned over to a third party, including internal and external review boards, without the priest’s permission and signature.

    You can read the documents here. Start at page 94 (stamped on the actual page as 00526). The findings of the Vatican office—saying that McDonald’s privacy was violated and that review boards may not access a personnel file without the priest’s signature is on page 100 (stamped 00532)

    The review boards were set up by bishops nationally as a part of sweeping 2002 reforms instituted as a result of the Boston Archdiocese sex abuse scandal. They are a part of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” While religious orders like the Benedictine’s were not a part of the agreement, the Canon Law cited in the Vatican’s response applies to all priests, whether they belong to a diocese or a religious order.

    In fact, a simple google search using the words “priest cleared by review board” yields 74,000 results – with page after page after page of stories about how reviews boards didn’t have enough evidence to kick a priest out of ministry.

    How many of those boards didn’t see the priest’s secret file? I’m guessing all of them.

    Experts say that without the priests personnel file, review boards miss “99% percent” of the church’s own evidence against an offending priest, including written admissions of guilt, letters from victims, witness accounts, treatment records, and internal investigation reports. As a result, hundreds of offending priests nationwide—whose cases went before similar review boards nationwide—may still be working in parishes and with children.

    The document was released as a part of the file of Benedictine priest and monk Finian McDonald, who worked and lived at St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, MN. McDonald, who church officials called “a serial predator of our students,” (see doc 655) had been accused of molesting numerous college-age students at the Catholic college. 

    McDonald’s case was brought before the Benedictine’s review board, who was charged with determining whether allegations against McDonald had merit and whether he should remain a priest. When the review board was given McDonald’s file, which included a psychiatric report that called McDonald a serious “moral, legal and financial risk” (see doc 293), McDonald petitioned the Vatican, citing common knowledge and canon law. 

    I served on a lay review board. They were a puppet then and they remain a puppet now.

    And now we have the proof.

  • Priest who destroyed evidence now taking reports of abuse in San Diego

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    A controversial priest accused of covering up abuse in the Diocese of San Diego is in charge of taking victims calls and emails.

    Msgr. Steven Callahan shot to the spotlight in 2014 after he became the temporary diocesan administrator after the death of Cirilo Flores.

    Victims, supporters and Catholics were rightfully upset:

    In 2007, Callahan testified that he destroyed evidence of child sex abuse and cover-up.

    But now, if you are a victim of abuse, a witness, or a whistleblower, he is the guy you call or email to report what you know.

    Why would anyone—especially a victim of abuse—believe that he would do the right thing?

    Why would the new bishop, Robert McElroy, EVER think that putting Callahan in this position is a good idea?

    Any iota of good faith that I may have had for the new bishop is gone.

    But you have to hand it to the Diocese of San Diego: At least they don’t pretend that they care about transparency.

    The faraway hum you hear isn’t holiday cheer. It’s Callahan’s shredder, and it’s hard at work.

     

     

  • MN Abbey: Prep School/University campus has housed abusers for decades

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    Earlier today, attorneys for sex abuse victims by priests and monks at a prestigious Benedictine high school, university, and abbey released hundreds of pages of documents that show a decades-long cover-up of the sexual abuse of children and university students.

    It’s important to note that many of the credibly accused priests still live on the  St. John’s Abbey campus, where the college and boarding schools are (including a priest who admitted to having abusing more than 200 sexual partners).

    The boarding school enrolls children as young as the sixth grade.

    The Benedictine Order, who owns the campus, claims that the men are under strict safety plans and have no contact with students.

    I say that’s bunk. Check out the interactive map. These men are adults and are not handcuffed to their chairs. They have had “safety plans” in the past that were totally ineffective. These predators can go where they want, when they want … even into the 9th grade dorm.

    Day students can enroll as young as the sixth grade. Tuition ranges from $5600 (for 6th graders) and $15,600 (for high school). (I’m assuming that perpetrators are a free benefit)

    Over the next couple of days, I’ll be writing about some of the most egregious stories the documents tell. They go from Minnesota to Missouri to all the way to the Vatican.

    In the meantime, you can read all of the documents here.

    Stay tuned …