ST. PAUL (MN)
Star Tribune
Article by: ANTHONY LONETREE and PAUL LEVY , Star Tribune staff writers
Updated: November 3, 2013
On the same night it announced that two clergy members had taken leaves of absence for prior misconduct, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis set about the process of healing Sunday through communal prayer at the Cathedral of St. Paul.
The evening service came after a month of stinging headlines and allegations about clergy sexual misconduct and accusations that some Catholic leaders had ignored warnings of sexual misconduct.
The service was billed as a Penitential Holy Hour prayer service, and Archbishop John Nienstedt made plain in his opening remarks that the 175-plus attendees would be praying for all those harmed by the failures of the church and its “shepherds.”
He hoped, he said, they’d find new trust in the church.
About an hour later, the archdiocese released statements revealing that the Rev. Paul Moudry, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Church in Golden Valley, and the Rev. David Barrett, an assistant priest at the Church of Saint Wenceslaus of New Prague, had taken voluntary leaves of absence this weekend as a result of “prior misconduct which occurred many years ago.”
Neither case involved parishioners or a violation of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” the archdiocese said. Both priests made their decisions in consultation with the archdiocese, the statements said.
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