Former Rc/nb Catholic Priest Named on Sexual Abuse of a Minor List

By Derrick Knutson
The Post Review
December 11, 2013

http://ecmpostreview.com/2013/12/11/former-rcnb-catholic-priest-named-sexual-abuse-minor-list/



The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis last week released a list of former priests with credible claims against them of sexual abuse of a minor. Among those on the list is Clarence Vavra, 74, who served at Church of the Sacred Heart in Rush City and St. Gregory Catholic Church in North Branch in 1977-1978.

Vavra started his tenure with Catholic Church as an associate priest at St. Rose of Lima in Roseville in 1965, and retired from the Shieldsville parish in 2003, where he also served as an associate priest.

During his years as an associate priest, pastor and administrator, the Catholic Church moved him 16 times in Minnesota. Many of those assignments were one or two-year stints.

Vavra currently lives in New Prague.

According to a Nov. 11 Minnesota Public Radio Article, Vavra allegedly sexually assaulted a boy while serving at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago.

There is no evidence of sexual misconduct by Vavra while he served in Rush City and North Branch.

Editor’s note regarding those on the list

All of the claims about those on the list have been substantiated, which means there are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported abuse occurred. Most of the reported incidents of abuse occurred between the mid-1950s and the 1980s, and most of the men have been previously identified in media reports. All of the men have been permanently removed from ministry, and most of them have been out of ministry for a decade or more.