MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: September 26, 2014
Archdiocese moved several priests barred from ministry to a tribunal that decides marriage annulments.
A church tribunal that determines the sensitive issue of whether Twin Cities Catholics can annul their marriages has employed priests known to have engaged in sexual improprieties, according to church documents and other records obtained by the Star Tribune.
The practice is defended by the church but challenged by others who say the church is finding jobs for problem priests at the expense of Catholics in crisis.
The Rev. James McConville, a Metropolitan Tribunal judge since at least 2009, was sued for sexual harassment by a female staff member at St. Peter’s Church in North St. Paul in 2004 and placed on restrictions by the archdiocese.
The Rev. Daniel Conlin was the chief judge when he fathered a child with a married church employee in 2004. He left the tribunal later that year, but returned for a period from at least 2011 until 2013.
The Rev. Joseph Wajda joined the Metropolitan Tribunal just months after settling one of two child sex abuse lawsuits in 1991 involving boys at his churches. He was chief judge and administrator when he left in 2002.
Other priests accused of sexual improprieties also have served on the tribunal of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the years, giving them access to sensitive information on everything from couples’ therapy reports to their sex lives. Their judgments on marriages can determine a Catholic’s good standing with the church.
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