Archdiocese Releases Names of 9 Additional Priests Credibly-accused of Abuse

By Jennie Olson
KSTP
February 17, 2014

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3328501.shtml

A Minnesota archdiocese has released the names of nine more priests it says were "credibly accused" of sexual abuse of a minor.



The announcement Monday from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis follows its earlier disclosure of 30 such priests. The disclosure follows a review of clergy files by an outside firm the archdiocese hired after it came under intense criticism for its handling of clergy sexual misconduct.



The archdiocese says it became aware of two of the nine priests after 2004, when it previously released a list of accused priests.



A Ramsey County judge on Sunday had rejected the archdiocese's request that it not have to release the names of all local priests accused of sexually abusing children since 2004.

Out of the nine priests on the list, three are dead, and all are no longer serving in ministry. The most recent person on the list was removed from ministry in December; the archdiocese removed the rest between 1960 and 2007.

The following names were released Monday, Feb. 17, as a result of a comprehensive file review by an outside national firm.

• Robert Blumeyer - Permanently removed from ministry in 1983 (died in 1983).

• Gerald Funcheon - Permanently removed from ministry in 1993.

• Kenneth Gansmann - Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 1960 (died, date unknown).

• Thomas Gillespie - Permanently removed from ministry in 1996.

• Michael Kolar - Permanently removed from ministry in 1991.

• Kenneth LaVan - Retired from full-time ministry in 1998. Removed from all active ministry December 2013.

• Francisco (Fredy) Montero - Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 2007.

• James Stark - Permanently removed from ministry in 1986 (died in 1999).

• Harold Walsh - Permanently removed from ministry in 2005.

The announcement Monday from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis follows its earlier disclosure of 30 such priests:

• Thomas Adamson - Permanently removed from ministry from our archdiocese in 1985.

• John Brown - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Cosmas Dahlheimer - Permanently removed from ministry (date unknown, died in 2004).

• Gilbert DeSutter - Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.

• Gilbert Gustafson - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Louis Heitzer - Permanently removed from ministry in 1969 (died in 1969).

• Rudolph Henrich - Permanently removed from ministry in 1976 (died in 1992).

• Francis Hoefgen - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Richard Jeub - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Dennis Kampa - Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.

• Robert Kapoun - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Jerome Kern - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Lee Krautkremer - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Ronan Charles Liles - Permanently removed from ministry in 1985 (believed to have died sometime before 2006).

• Alfred Longley - Permanently removed from ministry in 1968 (died in 1974).

• Brennan Maiers - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Timothy McCarthy - Permanently removed from ministry in 1991.

• John McGrath - Permanently removed from ministry in 1995 (died in 1995).

• Paul Palmitessa - Permanently removed from ministry in 2012.

• Joseph Pinkosh - Permanently removed from ministry in 1992.

• Francis Reynolds - Permanently removed from ministry in 1987 (died in 1988).

• Richard Skluzacek - Permanently removed from ministry in 2005 (died in 2012).

• Michael Stevens - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Thomas Stitts - Permanently removed from ministry in 1985 (died in 1985).

• Robert Thurner - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002.

• Clarence Vavra - Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.

• Joseph Wajda - Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.

• Raymond Walter - Permanently removed from ministry in 2003.

• Curtis Wehmeyer - Permanently removed from ministry in 2012.

• Robert Zasacki - Permanently removed from ministry in 2002 (died in 2008).