MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 01/07/2014
When the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said late last month that it had placed two priests on leave because of inappropriate conduct with minors, they said the conduct was not sexual abuse.
Instead, it labeled the actions “boundary violations,” and did not elaborate.
Rev. Mark Wehmann of St. Boniface Catholic Church in Minneapolis had several incidents, some of which were reported to law enforcement, the archdiocese said in its Dec. 29 statement. Rev. Joseph Gallatin of the Church of St. Peter in Mendota was also placed on leave.
One incident reported to law enforcement involving Wehmann was a 2006 Anoka County case, the Pioneer Press has learned. The sheriff’s office investigated after the children’s parents reported it to Epiphany Catholic School in Coon Rapids. Law enforcement declined to seek charges, and the case was closed.
What happened was this, according to the sheriff’s report:
Wehmann, who did not serve at the Coon Rapids parish, became friends with a family who had two children under age 10. On a couple of occasions, while visiting their home, he gave them what he called “root beer barrel kisses,” in which two people place their cheeks together and stick their tongues toward the cheeks, the children’s father told Detective Bryon Fuerst.
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