MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Peter Cox St. Paul, Minn. Jun 22, 2014
A Mendota priest has resigned from his parish after a Clergy Review Board reviewed a 1998 incident in which the priest allegedly touched a 17-year-old boy and considered other recent evaluations of the priest, Archibishop John Nienstedt announced Sunday.
In addition, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said a deacon is stepping aside temporarily while a sex abuse investigation is reopened.
In the first case, the Rev. Joseph Gallatin, 43, is being reassigned to limited ministry by Nienstedt, following the review board’s recommendation. He resigned as pastor at the Church of St. Peter in Mendota.
Internal records reviewed previously by MPR News showed that Gallatin admitted he rubbed the chest of a teenage boy under his shirt while he slept in a bunk bed on the camping trip. Gallatin explained that he wanted the boy to stop snoring but later admitted that the incident provided sexual gratification.
The incident was investigated in 1998 by the Clergy Review Board, which recommended evaluation, therapy and monitoring. The archdiocese said today Gallatin has actively participated in those requirements since the initial recommendation was made.
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