MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Ordained a priest of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese at age 46 in 2002, Keating was an assistant parish priest for three years before settling into a career as an associate professor of Catholic studies at the University of St. Thomas. In 2006 the parents of a young woman reported to the archdiocese and to law enforcement that Keating sexually abused their daughter from 1997-2000, beginning when she was 13 years-old. Keating was a seminarian at the time, and almost 30 years the girl’s senior. The family gave archdiocesan investigators emails the girl had received from Keating in which he professed his love for her. An internal archdiocesan investigation also yielded allegations that Keating had an “at best emotionally intense and at worst sexually abusive relationships with as many as four young women or girls“, including a 14-year-old Italian girl he met while studying for the priesthood in Rome. The archdiocesan review board determined that there was not enough evidence, but that Keating should be restricted from ministering to young adults or adolescents. He nonetheless continued to as a chaplain and teacher of young people at St. Thomas. He was not charged criminally. The young woman who’s family went to the archdiocese in 2006 filed charges against Keating in October 2013, and went public with the accusations. Keating denied the abuse and went on a leave of absence.
Ordained: 2002
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