HUDSON (WI)
Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 7, 2005
HUDSON, WIS. -- A victims group demanded Thursday that the bishop who oversaw the Rev. Ryan Erickson "come clean," saying that the Diocese of Superior, Wis., withheld information on Erickson's background and has a history of "covering up for sex offenders."
A judge concluded this week that it was likely that Erickson shot two men to death in 2002 at a Hudson funeral home while he was associate pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Hudson. According to court reports, Erickson, who committed suicide last Dec. 19 at his new parish in Hurley, Wis., had sexually abused at least one boy.
Responding to charges by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the Rev. Philip Heslin said: "We're still in the blind. ... There isn't anything we've held back" about Erickson's history of sexual abuse. Heslin is the chief administrator of the diocese.