MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 8
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)
We are alarmed that a convicted Minnesota predator priest is trying to raise money and start a “healing center.”
We believe Fr. Gil Gustafson is a smart, charming, charismatic person. We know he’s an admitted and convicted serial child molester. We oppose the effort by Fr. Gustafson and others to start this purported non-profit. And we call on St. Paul archdiocesan officials – Archbishop Bernard Hebda and others – to harshly denounce this move designed to boost the reputation and career of a proven predator.
(NOTE – Fr. Gustafson has not been defrocked. So he is still a priest and presumably getting money from the archdiocese. He should not be called Mr. Gustafson” or “a former priest.”)
According to BishopAccountability.org, Fr. Gustafson admitted that he had sexually abused three boys and pled guilty in a criminal case of abusing one of them. Fr.Gustafson was also accused of sexually abusing a girl for five years. (In 2005, she received a settlement from the archdiocese.)
Still, from 1983 onward, church officials let him work in the chancery office (the archdiocesan headquarters), sit on an interfaith board on sexual trauma, and be a chaplain for nuns.
In 2002, Fr. Gustafson was finally removed from ministry. Still, in 2009, he was hired by Christo Rey Jesuit High School as a leadership consultant, and in 2010-2011 Fr. Gustafson was involved with a leadership training program at a Minneapolis monastery for nuns.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.