This person couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended upon it. How does he sleep at night? What a scandal!
By Erik Ortiz
The St. Louis archbishop embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal testified last month that he didn’t know in the 1980s whether it was illegal for priests to have sex with children, according to a court deposition released Monday.
Archbishop Robert Carlson, who was chancellor of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul at the time, was deposed as part of a lawsuit against the Twin Cities archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota.
In a video released by the St. Paul law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, the Catholic archbishop is asked whether he had known it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a child.
“I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” Carlson responded. “I understand today it’s a crime.”
When asked when he first realized it was a crime for an adult — including priests — to have sex with a child, Carlson, 69, shook his head.
“I don’t remember,” he testified.
Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing an alleged clergy abuse victim, also released documents Monday indicating Carlson was aware in 1984 of the seriousness of child abuse allegations. He wrote to then-Archbishop John Roach that parents of one of the alleged victims was planning to go to police.
Carlson’s role at the time was to investigate abuse claims. He admitted in his deposition that he never personally went to police, even when a a clergy member admitted to inappropriate behavior.
In last month’s testimony, Carlson responded 193 times that he did not recall abuse-related conversations from the 1980s to mid-1990s.
Anderson provided a report from a previous deposition in 1987 in which now-deceased Bishop Loras Watters said he advised Carlson to answer “I don’t remember” if questioned in court.
Carlson responded last month that he had “no knowledge of the discussion.”
Carlson left the Twin Cities in 1994, and eventually became St. Louis archbishop in 2009.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis said in a statement Monday that Carlson had given testimony “several times many years ago” about the same allegations, according to NBC affiliate KSDK.
“In this most recent deposition, while not being able to recall his knowledge of the law exactly as it was many decades ago, the Archbishop did make clear that he knows child sex abuse is a crime today,” the statement said. “The question does not address the Archbishop’s moral stance on the sin of pedophilia, which has been that it is a most egregious offense.”
The trial against the Twin Cities archdiocese is slated to begin in September.
Faced with tough questions under oath last month, former Twin Cities archbishop Harry Flynn said at least 134 times that he could not remember how he handled clergy sexual abuse cases during his 13-year tenure, according to documents made public Wednesday.
Flynn, 81, retired six years ago. He said he didn’t have dementia or other diagnosed memory problems. “I think it has more to do with age than anything,” he said, although he noted that he has been diagnosed with cancer, pneumonia and Legionnaires’ disease.
The former archbishop said he did not report any accusations of child sexual abuse to police and doesn’t recall asking anyone else to report abuse claims, either, according to a transcript of the May 14 deposition released by victims’ attorneys. Flynn claimed no memory of a high-profile lawsuit brought in the mid-1990s by a man who said he was abused by the Rev. Robert Kapoun. The case attracted national attention at the time.
Flynn testified as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson as a child in the 1970s. The man claims the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on accused priests secret. The broad claim has allowed the man’s attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, to question archdiocese officials about decisions from the 1970s to the present. The archdiocese has also been forced to turn over thousands of internal documents on abusive priests.
Rev. Kevin McDonough testified under oath April 16 Video courtesy of Jeff Anderson and Associates
Under oath, Flynn testified that he spent a lot of time outside of the archdiocese handling the national crisis and delegated authority to archdiocese attorney Andrew Eisenzimmer and then-vicar general Kevin McDonough. “It’s unfortunate that we did not pay more attention to this as a result,” he said of the archdiocese cases.
Anderson questioned Flynn about his interactions with Archbishop John Nienstedt, who replaced him in 2008.
Nienstedt said under oath in April that he couldn’t remember key abuse cases and never provided complete files to police. He also claimed that McDonough told him not to write down some information on abusive priests for fear it could be uncovered in a lawsuit.
Archbishops Flynn and Nienstedt Greta Cunningham/MPR News
Flynn testified that he didn’t recall any similar advice from McDonough and doesn’t remember any situation in which he declined to write down information.
When first asked in the deposition, Flynn said Nienstedt “probably” asked him for the names of offending priests but wasn’t certain. Later Flynn said he didn’t think Nienstedt asked him for the names but recalled that Nienstedt “was in communication about this subject” with McDonough and Eisenzimmer.
Flynn said he didn’t recall whether he received a list of offenders from his predecessor, Archbishop John Roach. He said he didn’t know why he refused to release the names of priests “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse.
Flynn said that although he couldn’t recall most abuse cases, he did recall some details about an incident involving the Rev. Joseph Gallatin, a priest who went on leave in December.
He said Gallatin touched someone on the shoulder “with his finger only” during a camping trip. It was an “inappropriate touch” but not abusive, Flynn said.
Internal records reviewed by MPR News showed that Gallatin admitted that he rubbed the chest of a teenage boy under his shirt while he slept in a bunk bed on the camping trip. Gallatin explained that he wanted the boy to stop snoring but later admitted that the incident provided sexual gratification.
Flynn said he doesn’t recall whether he investigated the Gallatin incident but doesn’t think he restricted Gallatin’s ministry at the time.
Flynn has declined interview requests in the past and could not be reached for immediate comment. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis declined to comment, according to spokesman Jim Accurso.
Rev. Robert Kapoun is among the admitted child abusers to whom Flynn gave special payments. Jeffrey Thompson/MPR News
Payments to abusers
MPR News reported last fall that Flynn gave special payments to admitted child abusers.
Under oath, Flynn explained that he provided payments because “in justice, we needed to give them some provision” for retirement and housing.
“I felt very strongly that they would not be able to get jobs very easily, and so I wanted to give them some help,” he said.
Flynn said he provided a “financial agreement” for the Rev. Gilbert Gustafson, a priest who pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse in 1983, “but I don’t recall what it was.”
Anderson, the victims’ attorney, asked, “What message do you think that sends to the victims that he’s abused that he’s receiving payments for having victimized them?”
“What message do you think that sends to the victims that he’s abused that he’s receiving payments for having victimized them?”
Attorney Jeff Anderson
“I don’t know, but what message would it send to the world if we threw these people out in the street without any difficulty, without any assistance?” Flynn said.
“If they were thrown into jail and reported to the police, that would send a powerful message, wouldn’t it?” Anderson said.
“Yes.”
“And if the files that were maintained on Gustafson or other priests who had offended were made available to law enforcement, that would also send a powerful message, wouldn’t it?” Anderson said.
“Powerful message, yes.”
“Why hasn’t it been done? Why haven’t the files been turned over to the police?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Flynn said.
“I can’t remember.”
Flynn couldn’t recall after the national abuse scandal in 2002 whether he had determined if any of his priests had been “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse.
Flynn also claimed not to remember specific allegations against the Rev. John Brown, the former director of the archdiocese’s Boy Scouts program, who has been accused of sexually abusing boys in Waverly, Minn.
Flynn said he only remembered a handful of priests accused of child sexual abuse. For example, he said he removed the Rev. Jerome Kern from “active ministry” but couldn’t recall why. He said he assumes it was because Kern had been accused of child sexual abuse “because that would have been the only reason” for his removal.
Flynn appeared confused about whether abusive priests had left the priesthood. MPR News has reported that most abusers remained priests, regardless of whether they had been removed from parish ministry. He claimed that admitted abusersGilbert Gustafson, Robert Kapoun, Robert Thurner and Michael Stevens had left the priesthood.
All four men remain priests.
When Anderson challenged Flynn’s recollection of the priests, the former archbishop said he didn’t know the process for defrocking priests.
Rev. Clarence Vavra at his home in New Prague Jeffrey Thompson/MPR News
Flynn also testified that didn’t know the Rev. Clarence Vavra, a priest who admitted in the mid-1990s that he tried to rape a boy on an Indian reservation in South Dakota in the 1970s.
After Flynn claimed no knowledge of Vavra, Anderson pulled out a memo that Flynn received from his top deputy, McDonough, in 1996. It said psychological testing had found that Vavra was sexually attracted to teenage boys.
Confronted with the memo, Flynn said he thought Vavra’s ministry was restricted amid the national abuse scandal in 2002.
Wehmeyer and Shelley
Anderson asked Flynn about the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, a St. Paul priest who had approached young men for sex in a bookstore and received treatment for sexual problems. Wehmeyer later pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography.
Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer Minnesota Department of Corrections
Flynn said Wehmeyer “never came on my radar as a potential risk of harm to children.” He said he only knew that Wehmeyer “had a same-sex attraction.”
Some people told him that Wehmeyer wasn’t friendly, Flynn recalled. “There wasn’t anything that gravely concerned me … They just wanted him to loosen up a bit.”
Anderson also asked Flynn about pornography found on the Rev. Jon Shelley’s computer.
The review found “borderline illegal” pornographic images, according to internal documents obtained by MPR News, but the archdiocese did not call police. Archdiocese chancellor Jennifer Haselberger discovered the images on several disks at the chancery. She notified law enforcement in 2013 shortly before she resigned in protest of the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases.
Rev. Jonathan Shelley Photo courtesy of The Citizen/Deb Barnes
The archdiocese’s internal report found that Shelley had searched the Internet for the terms such as “blond boys sucking pics.”
Flynn testified that he couldn’t recall reading the private investigator’s report and denied knowledge of Shelley’s Internet search terms. He said McDonough told him that Shelley’s computer did not contain child pornography.
“I don’t know anything about computers,” he said. “And I’ve heard from people you can push things and things will come up, or push them accidentally.”
Montero
Anderson also asked Flynn about an abuse investigation into the Rev. Francisco “Fredy” Montero, a priest from Ecuador who returned to his native country amid a criminal investigation into whether he sexually abused a four-year-old girl.
Rev. Fredy Montero Ambar Espinoza/MPR News
Flynn said he thought that police had “cleared” Montero before he returned to Ecuador.
However, a document turned over by the archdiocese as part of the lawsuit shows that Flynn knew the investigation hadn’t been completed.
Auxiliary Bishop Richard Pates and Hispanic ministry coordinator Anne Attea explained the situation in a July 12, 2007 letter to a bishop in Ecuador and copied Flynn.
“While no charges have been filed and the child has not made any incriminating overture to the police, the case is still under investigation,” they wrote.
“Ludicrous” accusation against Bishop Paul Dudley
Anderson also asked Flynn about allegations of child sexual abuse against Bishop Paul Dudley, who died in 2006.
A man came forward in 2002 to accuse Dudley of sexually abusing him when he was an altar boy at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis in the 1950s, according to media reports. Two women also accused Dudley of misconduct. One woman claimed Dudley acted inappropriately toward her in a public place in the 1960s. Another woman said Dudley sexually abusing her when he was the pastor of Our Lady of the Lake in Mound, Minn., in the mid-1970s, according to a 2003 Star Tribune report.
Flynn hired a private investigator to review the allegations, according to statements by the archdiocese at the time. In February 2003, Flynn announced that the investigation found no evidence to support the claims of the three accusers. Dudley denied the allegations.
Under oath last month, Flynn said Dudley had been accused of dancing with a teenage girl and had been “exonerated.” He called it “the most ludicrous accusation that could have been made about anyone.”
Flynn did not mention the other allegations against Dudley.
“Suspicious” of alleged victim’s parents
Anderson asked Flynn about how he handled allegations against the Rev. Michael Keating, a professor at the University of St. Thomas who went on leave last fall shortly before he was sued for alleged sexual abuse of a teenage girl in the 1990s. The alleged victim’s parents went to the archdiocese years earlier, and Flynn said he doubted the woman’s allegations.
“I was quite disturbed because the mother and father kept putting words into her mouth,” he said.
Rev. Michael Keating George Martell/The Pilot Media Group
He said he was “suspicious” of the woman’s parents. “I don’t know why, but I was,” he said.
Flynn said McDonough, his top deputy, disclosed information about the Keating case to Don Briel, the director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas. The Universityannounced Briel’s retirement last week amid an internal investigation into what he and others knew about the claims against Keating.
The archdiocese’s clergy review board deemed the allegation unsubstantiated but recommended that Keating not mentor young adults. Flynn testified that he cannot remember whether he followed the board’s recommendation to restrict Keating’s ministry.
Former top deputies the Rev. Peter Laird, McDonough, and former archdiocese official Robert Carlson, now the Archbishop of St. Louis, also testified under oath in the past two months. Laird testified that he told Nienstedt he should resign.
In his deposition, Flynn declined to criticize Nienstedt and wouldn’t say whether he thinks the archbishop should release all information on accused priests. “I don’t get my views since I retired,” Flynn said.
The secretary general of the National Confederation of Brazilian Bishops endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples in an interview published this week in the magazine O Globo.
“There needs to be a dialog on the rights of shared life between people of the same sex who decide to live together. They need legal support from society,” Bishop Leonardo Steiner said.
Steiner made clear the church still opposes marriage for same-sex couples, which Brazil’s National Council of Justice made legal last year. “The difficulty is in deciding that marriages of people of the same sex are equivalent to marriage or family,” Steiner said, adding that he believes the measure should have been voted on by congress instead of being enacted by the judiciary.
This is the first national church leader to endorse the concept of same-sex civil unions since Pope Francis said in April that there was a possibility the church could give its blessing to certain arrangements, though they would have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Pope Francis himself reportedly encouraged his colleagues to support civil unions in an effort to head off marriage equality legislation when he was the head of Argentina’s bishops’ conference. The distinction that Steiner appears to be making between the “rights of shared life” and family rights is consistent with the line taken by Argentina’s church leadership that same-sex couples should be protected under property law, not family law.
Mount de Sales Academy students and parents met with the school president Thursday, seeking the reinstatement of the school’s gay band director, who was fired Wednesday.
Students are planning a protest outside the school Friday morning.
Band director Flint Dollar, 32, had posted on his Facebook page that he plans to marry his male partner of six years this summer in Minnesota.
He said Thursday that officials at the Catholic high school in Macon told him he was being fired because of that planned marriage.
Now, students and parents are marshaling forces to try to get him reinstated after more than four years on the job.
They’ve started a Save Flint Dollar page on Facebook, which already has more than 800 likes, a Twitter hashtag for #savedollar, and a Change.org petition. Thursday afternoon, about three dozen parents and students met at Mount de Sales to talk with David Held, the school’s president, asking that Dollar be rehired.
Dollar, a graduate from Howard Payne University with a degree in church organ music and a master’s degree from Mercer University, said he has never hidden his sexual orientation from school officials.
“I have been upfront with the school since my first interview,” he said. “This was not a secret.”
Dollar said he first approached school officials in October about his intention to marry his partner, and no one gave him any indications that it would be an issue.
Dollar said teachers at the school work on one-year contracts, and he was offered a new contract May 1, which he signed and was initially accepted by the school.
But that changed Wednesday when Dollar met with Held.
“I was told that because I was planning to marry my partner that I would not be returning to Mount de Sales next year,” Dollar said.
Mount de Sales’ employment policy says in part: “Mount de Sales Academy is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, gender, ancestry, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, or any other characteristic or status that is protected by federal, state, or local law.”
Dollar said he has called a few attorneys and gay organizations to seek advice. He’s been told that the school’s employment policy seemingly should have protected him. Dollar said he’ll likely retain an attorney after the holiday weekend.
A letter from Held sent to Mount de Sales parents did not mention Dollar by name. The letter points out that Mount de Sales is an independent Catholic school sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.
“As a Mercy School, we operate from a set of core values that is in keeping with the charism of The Sisters of Mercy,” the letter said. “In addition to being a Mercy School, we are a Catholic School located in the Diocese of Savannah, which places us under the direction of The Bishop of Savannah in all questions regarding Catholic identity and the teachings of the Catholic Church on faith and morals.”
Held also said in the letter that he tries his best “to make decisions based on our mission and what is best for our students.”
“Personnel decisions are never easy, and we consider many factors when making such decisions. Teaching ability, knowledge of the subject matter, the ability to communicate with constituents, and the willingness to support the teachings of the Catholic Church are just some of factors considered when making these decisions. Please know that these decisions are never made arbitrarily and are guided always by our mission as a Catholic School.”
Multiple attempts to reach the Diocese of Savannah Thursday were unsuccessful. Attempts to reach members of the school’s board of trustees also were unsuccessful.
Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, said Dollar’s case is at least the second one he knows of in which a Catholic school under the direction of the Sisters of Mercy fired a gay teacher planning to marry. The Mount St. Mary Catholic School in Little Rock, Arkansas, fired teacher Tippi McCullough last year after she announced plans to marry her partner.
Dollar said there is nothing in his personnel file “that would preclude me from receiving a job” at the school. Dollar said he was inundated with phone calls and emails Wednesday and Thursday and has been “overwhelmed” at the level of support he’s drawn from students and parents.
Many who attended Thursday’s meeting with Held were emotional as they left.
Amanda Herrold, a rising freshman at Mount de Sales, said Dollar “saved my life in more ways than one.”
“His kids loved him and he loved his kids,” she said. “I was suffering from depression, and he was the only one I could go to. He’s the only person I felt I could talk to.”
Her mother, Laura Herrold, said Dollar has always acted professionally and said the eighth-grade graduation ceremony he organized earlier this week was “phenomenal.”
“He put his heart and soul into it,” Laura Herrold said.
Sonya Foster, whose son is a rising senior at the school and a member of the school marching band under Dollar, said that while Dollar being gay wasn’t a secret, he never flaunted it, either. She said among the parents and students she knows, his sexuality was a non-issue.
“I’m absolutely outraged,” she said. “I’m not willing to stand by and say, ‘That’s OK.’ It speaks to who this man is that all these people are here. He’s been a role model.”
Asked if he would be attending any of the gatherings in Macon, Dollar said no.
“This is their statement. I’m not taking that away from them,” he said of the students.
He added, “I want students to learn that you stand up for what you believe in and what you believe is right.”
Asked if he would return to Mount de Sales now if he were offered back his job, Dollar said, “At this point, I don’t know.”
Colleen Simon insisted on performing her job this week out of devotion.
On Wednesday, she managed a delivery of 2,000 pounds of food for the pantry at St. Francis Xavier Church. It’s work she sees as fulfilling God’s will, his call to serve.
She couldn’t let the food spoil.
But apparently, that is not the way the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph sees her role. Not anymore. Not after it was publicized that Simon is gay and married to another woman.
Simon’s job unraveled in a horrible confluence of unintended consequences that ran into the Catholic faith’s hypocritical stand on homosexuality.
Simon’s work as coordinator of social ministries was profiled April 30 in The Star’s 816 newsmagazine. The article highlighted Troost Avenue — its history and the many interesting people dedicated to its vibrancy today.
Colleen Simon and her wife, the Rev. Donna Simon of St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church, were mentioned deep in the story, along with the fact that they are a married couple.
The freelance writer didn’t intend to out the couple. They bear no grudge to her, nor to the priest currently serving St. Francis. The Simons have never hidden their marriage (in Iowa on May 19, 2012).
Rather, Colleen Simon kept a don’t-ask, don’t-flaunt attitude. She said she told the pastor who hired her in July 2013 (he is no longer at the parish) of her marriage. But day to day, she avoided pronouns that would highlight it, substituting “my spouse” or “my beloved.”
“You don’t want your legacy to be one of division and ugliness,” she said. “It’s awful. But there are laws, and until that law gets changed in the church, it is what it is.”
This is the dude responsible for this travesty. You know about his past, don’t you?
She says that in a series of emails and discussions that began last week, she was asked to resign. Colleen Simon believes that the order originated from Bishop Robert Finn.
The diocese is declining to comment.
Simon is Lutheran, but she spent decades as a Catholic. And it is through Catholicism’s strong ties to charity and justice that she’s reframed her life. She moved to Kansas City from Virginia, a step in a transition from a prior career as a pharmaceutical representative.
Hers was a pastoral role at St. Francis, which she understands makes a difference to the diocese. She took great pride in leading parishioners toward a more active role in the pantry.
She pressed for the congregation to not only offer food, but to examine systemic reasons for why people hunger. It’s the social justice role of faith, long embraced by the Jesuit-affiliated St. Francis Xavier, often in conjunction with its cohort on the east side of Troost, Rockhurst University.
Simon is devastated. But her refusal to resign, her insistence on being fired, is not a stand on principle. It’s pragmatic. She might need unemployment benefits.
In November, Simon will reach the milestone of being three years cancer-free from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But many bills from her treatment remain unpaid. At 58, she worries about her ability to find a new job quickly.
She’s heartsick. But she says righteous indignation has no role here, not from her.
“I knew this was a losing engagement,” she said. “I was just hoping for a longer engagement.”
Many will find this episode shocking, believing that such discrimination is unheard of today. Headlines touting the acceptance shown to Michael Sam, the first openly gay football player on an NFL roster, are encouraging.
But important societal shifts happen by degree. Private struggles occur daily. Parents find themselves conflicted when a child comes out. Schools manage families fearful of a teacher who is believed to be gay.
And many religions grapple with balancing long-held dogma and God’s call to embrace all of humanity equally.
Pope Francis’ comment last year about homosexuality — “Who am I to judge?” — didn’t uproot Roman Catholic doctrine.
The church continues to fumble the fact that many within its flock — clergy, lay hires and parishioners — were created homosexual by God. They are people with talents to contribute. And they deserve not only God’s loving embrace but that of the faith’s leadership as well.
By Erik Ortiz
