By Richard Chin
Pioneer Press
November 15, 2011
http://www.twincities.com/ci_19341117
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| Christopher Wenthe, was accused in 2005. |
A Roman Catholic priest was convicted Tuesday of one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a parishioner at a St. Paul church while he was providing her spiritual counsel and advice.
A Ramsey County District Court jury found the Rev. Christopher Thomas Wenthe, 47, guilty of having sex with the parishioner - a woman in her early 20s who recently had converted to Catholicism - during a meeting in late 2003.
The incident violated a state law prohibiting clergy members from having sex with someone seeking or receiving religious or spiritual advice, aid or comfort in private, the jury decided.
The jury, though, acquitted Wenthe of a second count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct that alleged that he had sex with the woman from November 2003 to February 2005 while the woman was receiving religious or spiritual help on an ongoing basis.
Wenthe showed no apparent emotion as both verdicts were read following about six hours of deliberation by the jury.
Wenthe is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14.
Assistant Ramsey County Attorney David Hunt asked Judge Margaret Marrinan to order Wenthe taken into custody immediately because the conviction calls for a presumed prison sentence.
Hunt said that when Wenthe testified at trial, he did not seem to appreciate the harm he had done to the victim. Hunt said taking the priest into custody would send a message to the public that "no one is above the law, not even a Catholic
priest."
Marrinan denied the request to jail Wenthe before sentence, but she said Wenthe should bring his toothbrush to the sentencing hearing.
Hunt said he would seek a four-year prison sentence for Wenthe.
Wenthe, of Delano, has been free on $15,000 bond and is living with his parents in Faribault, Minn.
"We're disappointed in the verdict," said Wenthe's lawyer, Paul Engh.
"He's very disappointed," Engh said of Wenthe. "It's heartbreaking."
Engh said he would seek a lighter sentence for his client.
"He's amenable to probation," he said.
Engh also said he would be appealing the conviction. He said he would challenge the constitutionality of the clergy sex law based on the principle of the separation of church and state.
Engh had previously argued that the law violated the First Amendment and that prosecuting Wenthe would interfere with the free exercise of religion.
Engh also said he would appeal based on the exclusion of a defense witness who would have testified on reasons why the parishioner waited so long to take the case to the police.
When the incidents began, the victim was a new, 21-year-old parishioner at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, and Wenthe was 39 and a recently ordained priest.
The woman asked the priest to be her regular confessor, and during their relationship, they began having oral and anal sex from November 2003 to February 2005, according to the woman's testimony.
The Pioneer Press generally does not identify victims of sex crimes.
Wenthe testified that he heard a confession only once from the woman and that was before they began having sex. His lawyer argued that the relationship between Wenthe and the woman was a friendship that became a romance and that Wenthe was not acting as the woman's priest when the relationship became sexual.
The woman, however, testified that Wenthe heard her confession at least three or four times during their relationship.
The criminal count on which the jury convicted Wenthe specified that he had sex with the woman in November or December 2003 during a meeting in which the woman sought or received spiritual or religious help.
"It's difficult to know what he's convicted of because there's no date listed on the charge," Engh said.
But prosecutors believe the jury convicted Wenthe based on the first sexual encounter he had with the woman in early November 2003.
The woman testified that before she met Wenthe that night, she had disclosed details of childhood sexual abuse in a therapy session with a counselor.
The woman, who also suffered from bulimia, was distraught and seeking spiritual guidance from Wenthe that night, according to prosecutors. Instead, she ended up giving him oral sex.
"The fact they came down with guilty on either one of the counts is justice as far as the state is concerned," said Assistant County Attorney Karen Kugler. "It sends a message there are boundaries that need to be respected."
Wenthe's older brother, Greg Wenthe, said after the verdict that he was "very sad and concerned."
"We love our brother," he said. "We're praying for everyone involved."
"The archdiocese regrets the pain and suffering that the woman has suffered and continues to offer her assistance and care," according to a statement from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The statement said that after the woman reported the sexual relationship to the archdiocese in 2005, Wenthe admitted the relationship but denied criminal wrongdoing.
Wenthe was returned to active ministry with certain restrictions and conditions after he underwent psychological assessment and treatment and a review by the Clergy Review Board, according to the statement.
But he was removed from active ministry after the woman took the case to the police in 2010, according to the archdiocese.
"Obviously, it's unlikely he will return to active ministry," said Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the archdiocese.
Contact: rchin@pioneerpress.com
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