ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press
BY BETH SILVER
Pioneer Press
A former Roman Catholic priest from St. Paul was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for criminal sexual misconduct and theft involving a church employee and two parishioners — crimes the victims said Thursday targeted their vulnerabilities and robbed them of their dignity.
For more than 1½ hours, the victims told through tearful statements how John Joseph Bussmann, 51, had ruined their lives and damaged their families.
"Because of John Bussmann, I lost a parish I was devoted to and dearly loved," said a former church employee. "I went through a summer of utter despair. My whole world turned dark and lonely."
Said another victim: "There has been so much suffering and I have lost so much and all because I fell into the sick mind of John Bussmann."
The incidents involved women Bussmann counseled at St. Walburga in Hassan, Minn., and St. Martin in Rogers, Minn. The parishes merged in 2002 to form Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers.