3 Former St. John's Abbey Priests Included in Archdiocese List

By David Unze
St. Cloud Times
December 5, 2013

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20131205/news01/312050071/3-former-st-john-s-abbey-priests-included-archidocese-list

Three former St. John’s Abbey priests are on a list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct; the list was released Thursday by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Fran Hoefgen, Cosmas Dahlheimer and Brennan Maiers had previously been publicly named by the abbey as having credible allegations of sexual misconduct against them. They were among 34 priests listed Thursday by the Twin Cities archdiocese after a Ramsey County judge recently ruled that the archdiocese could release the names.

The list released Thursday includes the names of eight men who had not been publicly named before and includes 30 believed to have molested children. Four have claims against them that could not be substantiated.

St. John’s Abbey previously posted lists of monks and priests who faced credible allegations of various types of misconduct. Some involved the abuse of children, while other conduct included viewing Internet pornography or inappropriate behavior with an adult.

The abbey identified several monks and priests in 2002 and expanded that list to include more men in 2011. The abbey no longer has a list of offenders on its website.

Hoefgen was named in a lawsuit in November that accused him of abusing a child when he was priest at a Stillwater parish from 1985-1992. Hoefgen was transferred to that parish after he admitted sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy in 1983 at the parish house of St. Boniface Church in Cold Spring.

Hoefgen was permanently removed from ministry in 2002 and laicized in December 2011, according the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Laicization is a process in which a cleric is made a layperson.

Abbot John Klassen said in 2002 that he believed Dahlheimer had sexually abused children even though Dahlheimer denied doing so. At that time, Klassen also identified Maiers as one of several monks or priests who had restrictions placed on their movements and work activities.

None of the other priests identified Thursday by the archdiocese are believed to have significant connections to the St. Cloud area.

The St. Cloud diocese said this week that new Bishop Donald Kettler was reviewing the history of the diocese and what it had done with regard to sexual abuse allegations. He said he would complete his review before deciding whether to release a list of offending priests.

One claim in the lawsuit filed last month against Hoefgen and St. John’s Abbey calls for the abbey to release a full list of credibly accused monks and priests. The abbey didn’t say whether it would release such a list when asked earlier this week by the Times.