Priests Who Served in St. Paul Abused Altar Boy in Robbinsdale, Lawsuit Says

By Emily Gurnon
Pioneer Press
October 2, 2014

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26651964/priests-who-served-st-paul-abused-altar-boy

A never-before-accused priest was sued Thursday by a man who claims the cleric sexually abused him while he was an altar boy at Sacred Heart parish in Robbinsdale.

The Rev. Ramon Jerome Buckley fondled the boy and forced him to have oral sex at the parish office, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

The abuse took place from about 1978 to 1979 when the boy was 12 to 14, according to the suit. In the same general time period, from 1978 to 1980, the same boy was the victim of abuse by a second priest at Sacred Heart, the Rev. John McGrath, the lawsuit claimed.

After his time in Robbinsdale, Buckley worked as an associate priest at the Church of St. Mark in St. Paul from 1979 to 1982, according to the archdiocese. Buckley also served at Holy Cross in Minneapolis and St. Luke in Clearwater, Minn., the archdiocese said. He died in 1999.

In addition to Sacred Heart, McGrath worked at Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, St. Andrew in St. Paul, the University of St. Thomas and St. Helena in Minneapolis. He died in 1995.

McGrath has previously been sued and was identified last year by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a priest with substantiated claims against him.

The plaintiff, referred to as John Doe 115 in the lawsuit, was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family and had great respect for priests, according to the suit involving both Buckley and McGrath, which names the archdiocese as a defendant.

Two other lawsuits also were filed Thursday alleging abuse by priests Michael Skoblik and Williams Marks, who worked in the Diocese of New Ulm. The Marks case was filed in Ramsey County, and the Skoblik case in Brown County.

"The carnage from these cases is staggering," said plaintiffs' attorney Leander Lee James of Seattle, who works with attorney Patrick Noaker of Minneapolis. "The horror of a young boy being raped by two priests is almost unimaginable."

All four priests named in the suits are dead.

The lawsuits claim that church officials knew the priests were dangerous to children and yet held them out as safe and trustworthy.

"Regarding Father Ramon Buckley, we have no knowledge of him abusing anyone at any time," said a statement by Bishop Andrew Cozzens, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "To our knowledge, this is the first accusation of abuse made against him."

The Diocese of New Ulm issued a statement about Skoblik, saying it was "unaware of any claims of sexual misconduct involving Fr. Skoblik prior to his death."

Plaintiff John Doe 116 said in his lawsuit that Skoblik performed violent sexual acts on him and threatened him with violence if he did not comply with his demands. The claimed abuse took place at the Church of St. Joseph in Silver Lake, Minn., in 1968 when the plaintiff was 10 or 11. Skoblik was pastor of the church for 23 years.

The third lawsuit filed Thursday involves William Marks and names both the archdiocese and the Diocese of New Ulm as defendants. The plaintiff identified as John Doe 114 was not Catholic but worked as a paperboy and mowed lawns in Hector, Minn., to help support his low-income family.

At Marks' request, the boy started mowing the lawn at St. John's Church in 1959 and delivered papers to the rectory. Marks began forcing oral sex on him over about two years, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiff died just days ago. Since his lawsuit was served on the defendants while he was still alive, attorneys will go forward with it, Noaker said.

"He was tormented by what happened, and we believe that his life was cut short by his abuse," Noaker said.

Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522.

Contact: egurnon@pioneerpress.com