Witnesses Reveal Widespread Sexual Abuse by Fr. Michael G. Skoblik

By Attorney Patrick Noaker
Noaker Law Firm
October 8, 2015

http://noakerlaw.com/witnesses-reveal-widespread-sexual-abuse-by-fr-michael-g-skoblik/

Fr. Michael Skoblik

Investigation by attorneys for a victim of sexual abuse by priest Fr. Michael G. Skoblik at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Silver Lake reveals evidence of widespread sexual abuse of parish children as nuns turned a blind eye. Recently, Patrick Noaker, an attorney for a man who was sexually abused as a boy by Fr. Michael G. Skoblik, filed court documents revealing additional information about sexual abuse by Skoblik. According to the Second Amended Complaint[1] filed in Brown County District Court, Fr. Skoblick sexually abused John Doe 116 beginning in 1968 when he was only 10 or 11 years old. The sexual abuse continued until 1973. According to the court documents, a portion of the sexual abuse occurred during school hours, while John Doe 116 was a student at St. Joseph’s School.

According to attorney Noaker, a witness confirms that while he was a student at St. Joseph in the late 1960’s, he noticed that a few of his fellow classmates were absent from class. When the witness asked the teacher/nun why, the teacher/nun told him that the boys were with Fr. Skoblik to talk about becoming priests. The witness learned later that Fr. Skoblik sexually abused the boys during those meetings.


In addition, Noaker discovered that, according to witnesses, Fr. Skoblik recruited parish boys who expressed an interest in becoming priests to serve as altar boys. Then, Fr. Skoblik sexually abused these boys while they were serving as altar boys. Much of the sexual abuse occurred while the altar servers were changing out of their vestments after mass. While in the sacristy, Fr. Skoblik isolated the boys and sexually assault them. Some of these boys were as young as 2nd grade. According to a witness, Fr. Skoblik’s sexually abusive behavior resulted in many of the parish boys refusing to serve as altar boys. Witnesses report that it was common knowledge at St. Joseph’s parish that Fr. Skoblik had sexual contact with parish boys.

One witness remembers an occasion when he was a student at St. Joseph School, his teacher/nun instructed the class to write notes to Fr. Skoblik. The nun/teacher then instructed the witness to take the notes to Fr. Skoblik in the rectory. The witness read the notes and learned that several of the notes were from students accusing Fr. Skoblik of improperly touching them. One of the notes contained a drawing of the lower portion of a body with an “X” drawn through it.

Despite this widespread knowledge of Fr. Skoblik’s sexual abuse of parish boys, law enforcement authorities were never contacted. According to James Jurek, the Silver Lake Police Chief during the 1960’s and 1970’s, even though he heard rumors of Fr. Skoblik abusing children in the 1990’s, there was never a report to the police about Fr. Skoblik.

Fr. Skoblik’s employment as a priest spanned many years and two dioceses. Fr. Skoblik was ordained in 1939 into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was assigned to Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montgomery, Minnesota from, 1940 through 1946.

After that, Fr. Skoblik had a series of very brief assignments. In 1947, he was assigned to Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Veseli, Minnesota. In 1948, he was assigned to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Lonsdale, Minnesota. In 1949, he was assigned to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bechyn, Minnesota, where he worked until 1953. In 1953, Fr. Skoblik was transferred to St. George Catholic Church in Glencoe, Minnesota. This assignment history, by itself is not direct evidence of misconduct by Fr. Skoblik; however, in other cases, multiple reassignments of short duration has been a result of reports of sexual misconduct.

In January of 1958, the Diocese of New Ulm was created and Fr. Skoblik was technically transferred to the new diocese, even though he remained assigned to St. George’s Church in Glencoe until 1966. In 1967, Fr. Skoblik was transferred to the Church of St. Joseph in Silver Lake, Minnesota. He remained there until his death in 1989.

Patrick Noaker is an attorney with the Noaker Law Firm LLC who aggressively represents clients in the courtroom, mediation and arbitration and has presented cases to judges, juries, arbitrators and mediators across the U.S. for the past 24 years. Patrick has handled hundreds of clergy sexual abuse cases in Minnesota and across the United States. Patrick can be reached at his office: 333 Washington Avenue N. # 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401, (612) 839-1080, patrick@noakerlaw.com, @Noakerlaw.