The Worthy Adversary

Category: Minnesota

St. John’s, document dumps, and child victims

or … The proof is in the paper, but only if you can find it.

And the monks at St. John’s want to make sure you never find it.

St. John’s: a predators’ paradise

Today, Minnesota Public Radio announced that St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville (MN) is releasing the secret sex abuse files of 18 predatory monks in a large document dump. The monks were forced to release the files to victims as a result of a 2015 lawsuit brought by a victim from the St. John’s Prep School. In theory, it was supposed to be up to the victim when the documents were made public.

Some of the 18 predators whose files are slated to be released live in the St. John’s Monastic Residence (location C above – right smack between the Prep School dorm and cafeteria, in case you were wondering if the offending monks had access to students on campus.). The prep school has students from the 6th to 12th grades. High schoolers can live on campus.

The victim and his attorneys in this case have been releasing the files one or two at a time. The right way …

They carefully examined the files, first making sure that victims and witnesses’ names were redacted.

Then, they put the files in order, made them searchable online, highlighted important information, called out people who covered up abuse, and worked closely with advocates across the country who could use the information in these files to help other victims. (Documents such as this one that showed that diocese lay review boards are usually denied access to a priest’s secret personnel file when making determinations about a priest’s potentially abusive past)

The slow release also ensures that documents receive the attention they deserve (as in my own case.)

Anyone familiar with politics knows that this kind of careful, thoughtful, and victim-centered document release is a disaster for organizations like St. John’s, who has a decades-long history of covering up abuse. It’s called the “drip, drip, drip …” and can be devastating to politicians and political causes, as well as organizations that enable and abet child sex abuse.

Hence today’s announcement of the document dump. It works in politics, so it’s no surprise that the monks are giving it a shot.

There is nothing “transparent” or victim-friendly about the large-scale dumping of these kinds of documents. The monks want everyone in a panic—victims, advocates, journalists—so that information is missed, cover-up remains undetected, and wrongdoers are “forgotten” so that they can continue to live happily on the St. John’s campus.

Which only makes one wonder: what else do the monks have to hide?

January 19, 2016
“He created the group to find children to abuse”

Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis has a problem that is never going to go away.

Yesterday, a victim of sexual abuse filed the fourth abuse and cover-up lawsuit against the theater company.

The latest civil lawsuit, brought by a woman who is now an academic advisor at the University of Minnesota, charges that Stephen Adamczk sexually abused her in the early 1980s.

Other lawsuits charge that former employee Adamczak and former director John Clark Donahue sexually abused children who were involved in theater productions.

Donahue, who was arrested in 1983, admitted to sexually abusing at least 16 children. Adamczak was acquitted at trial and died in 2007.

This latest case will likely unearth evidence that the criminal jury was never able to see.

Children’s Theater of Minnesota is fighting all of the lawsuits.

***

I have pretty strong opinions about performing arts organizations whose founders are serial sexual molesters. Shocking, I know.

Here in Orange County, CA, we have The All-American Boys Chorus, founded by serial child predator Richard T. Coughlin. Coughlin was very good at attracting voice coaches who molested kids, too.

A group founded by a man who wanted a steady stream of boys to sexually abuse

All of the “good work” that a chorus or a theater group claims to do cannot erase the pain of the dozens of children who were hurt by Coughlin, Giese, Donahue, or Adamczak. I believe both groups should be disbanded.

In fact, anyone who cares about the welfare of children in the performing arts would want the groups disbanded. (Then start a new group, with a new board, built on a foundation of child safety and education.)

The performing arts can do wonderful things for children. But at the same time, we have to remember that the arts are a system based on audition, talent, favoritism, money, and power.

Children who already ache for attention will ache even more in a performing arts environment. Good teachers know that and make sure to be EXTRA vigilant when it comes to the physical, emotional and mental health and safety of the children in their care.

I know about bad organizations because I was one of those kids who ached for attention and wanted to perform. And because cover-up was more important than child safety, I paid the price.

So did Donohue’s victims. From Fox 9 (Minneapolis):

Uncompromising and undeniably talented, Donahue had an almost cult-like following. Young performers sought his praise and desperately wanted to be part of his inner circle. But the starring roles, the attention and adoration, sometimes came at an unforgivable price.

Who would want to work for an organization that was founded by a serial child predator (and just so that he could have a steady stream of children to sexually abuse)?

Who would want to send their children there?

And before you write in the comments about how “wonderful” these two groups are, remember: any “success” or “positive” aspects of the group were built on the carcasses of sexually abused children.

Sticking your head in the sand and saying “things are different now” will never change that.

We’ll learn more as the lawsuits unfold.

*** “The definitive child safety manual” – The Well-Armored Child ebook (Nook and Kindle) is on sale for $.99 – until January 18, 2016 ***

January 13, 2016
How do you solve a problem like Nienstedt?

Former St. Paul and Minneapolis Bishop John Nienstedt

What do you do with a disgraced bishop, whose involvement in the cover-up of child sexual abuse led to his being forced out (as well as a bankruptcy for his Archdiocese and criminal charges against the organization)?

Put him in a parish, apparently.

Yesterday, former St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancellor (and whistleblower) Jennifer Haselberger published the parish bulletin from St. Philip Catholic Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.

John Nienstedt is going to be their new fill-in parish priest.

What does this say to the faithful at that parish? We hope you don’t notice, but we are passing our trash to you. We know you go to church for spiritual growth and healing, but we hope you can just “forgive” the fact that we stuck you with a guy who covered-up sex abuse, has been accused himself, and who led his archdiocese down a criminal path of disaster.

In fact, I bet that Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley and Twin Cities Archbishop Bernard Hebda are going to use the rhetorical device of “forgiveness” to shame Battle Creek Catholics into accepting Nienstedt.

Nienstedt shouldn’t be a priest anymore. He blew it. If Archbishop Hebda wants to throw Nienstedt a bone and let him keep the collar (and the pension), Nienstedt should live a life of quiet prayer and penance.

And Nienstedt has no right or standing to act as a spiritual leader of anyone.

I hope Kalamazoo Catholics punch back twice as hard … by closing their wallets.

*** “The definitive child safety manual” – The Well-Armored Child ebook (Nook and Kindle) is on sale for $.99 – until January 18, 2016 ***

January 13, 2016
Prestigious MN prep school/Uni in violation of Title IX for housing sex offending monks

Newly released documents show how St. John’s Prep in Collegeville, MN is in direct violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and created a hostile environment where students can reasonably believe they are risk of sexual assault.

At least 10 sex-offending monks—who have only been publicly exposed due to child sex abuse civil lawsuits and criminal complaints— live at the monastic residence (noted in the photo of the school above) mere yards from the dorms of St. John’s Prep. Students must pass the home where the offenders live to go to the cafeteria or attend church services.

Because of the real risk these monks pose, students are unable to study, work, or perform in sport activities because out of genuine and real fear of sexual assault.

According to Campus Safety Magazine:

Sexual violence is viewed under the law as an extreme form of hostile environment/sexual harassment and must be addressed. When an institution “knows or reasonably should know” about a hostile environment, they are required “to take immediate action to eliminate the harassment, prevent its recurrence and address its effects.”

We aren’t talking about frat parties. We are talking about men who engaged in child sex trafficking in South East Asia, men who evaded charges of child sex abuse, men who took numerous children to cabins in order to sexually abuse them, men who sexually abused the high school and college students they counseled, and men who abused altar boys in their care.

If that isn’t a Title IX violation, I don’t know what is.

Tuition at St. John’s Prep for a boarding student: $35,945

Tuition at St. John’s University: $40,846

Sex offenders are free.

And remember: these are the same monks who may have engaged in Medicaid fraud, bilking the taxpayers of Missouri out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Oh … and in case you were wondering. I don’t just blog. I report. Fortunately, every state has Medicaid fraud and Title IX hotlines. Good thing I have a calling plan with unlimited minutes.

November 30, 2015
Did Missouri’s taxpayers foot the bill for an out-of-state sex offending priest?

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.

November 29, 2015