St. Paul: St. Thomas Priest to Be Sued Monday for 'Sexual Contact'
By Andy Greder
UPDATE: Suit has been filed alleging "multiple instances" between 1997 and 2000. A lawsuit alleging a St. Paul priest and University of St. Thomas professor "engaged in sexual contact" as a seminary student with a girl will be filed Monday. The lawsuit against Michael Keating will be filed in Ramsey County District Court, attorney Jeff Anderson said in a statement Sunday evening. Anderson said the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis had knowledge of these claims in 2006. Anderson said he will provide information about the case and how the archdiocese handled the report at a Monday news conference. He said he will have photos and a statement from the now 20-year-old victim. Keating has taken a voluntary leave of absence from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said archdiocese spokesman Jim Accurso, who declined further comment. Keating did not return a call Sunday to his St. Paul home. On behalf of the archdiocese, Keating was scheduled to give a series of speeches titled, "Rediscover: Belonging; Living in Communion with God," at four locations across the Twin Cities in late September and early October. Keating, an assistant professor in Catholic Studies at St. Thomas, is the manager of the Rome Program and the founder and director of the Habiger Institute for Catholic Leadership. He was teaching two classes in the fall semester and was scheduled for two more in the spring, according to St. Thomas' website. Keating is a speaker and retreat director at national and international venues, according to his biography on Crisis Magazine. Keating, who graduated from the University of Michigan, earned a doctorate in history from the University of Notre Dame and a theology degree from Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Contact: agreder@pioneerpress.com
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