“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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
** Update: only two journalists were indicted. Note corrections below
Events last week showed that the Vatican has the power to indict foreign journalists … but earlier this year needed to draft new rules in order to indict its own employees for sex abuse.
