The January 4, 2015 church bulletin at St. Mary’s Cathedral – Diocese of Saint Cloud included this message from Father Bob Rolfes, asking that parishioners send mail to Father Tony Oelrich (SOT ’92) at St. Luke’s Institute.
View bulletin page as PDF… Here
St. Cloud police arrested a priest who serves in the Diocese of St. Cloud Tuesday morning.
The Rev. Anthony Oelrich, 51, of St. Cloud was arrested at about 10 a.m.
Stearns County Jail records say he was jailed on suspicion of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. A St. Cloud Police Department spokesman said Tuesday night that no further information would be released until Wednesday.
In a statement released Tuesday night, Bishop Donald Kettler said he was notified by St. Cloud police of Oelrich’s arrest following “an investigation of alleged sexual misconduct involving an adult woman.”
Full Story… Here
St. Cloud priest arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with adult
Stephanie Dickrell
St. Cloud Times
February 13, 2018
(WCCO) According to Stearns County Jail records, 51-year-old Father Tony Oelrich of the Christ Church Newman Center Catholic Student Community was arrested on suspicion of third degree criminal sexual conduct. The nature of the accusations won’t be revealed until prosecutors formally file charges.
According to the church’s website, Oelrich joined the Newman Center in 2007 and serves as the director of continuing education for clergy in the St. Cloud Diocese. He’s a native of Milaca and served in the diocese for over 20 years, according to his online bio.
Full Story… Here
St. Cloud Priest Arrested On Suspicion Of Criminal Sexual Conduct
WCCO-TV
February 13, 2018
(NY Times) A. W. Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, becoming one of the subject’s leading experts, died on Wednesday in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. He was 85.
His wife, Marianne Benkert Sipe, said the cause was multiple organ failure.
Mr. Sipe’s research into celibacy and sexuality within the clergy helped establish a foundation for those studying, investigating and responding to the sexual abuse crisis of the 2000s. Along with describing how celibacy was lived, his work resulted in several striking estimates arrived at in the 1980s.
One was that fully 6 percent of all priests were sexual abusers of children and minors. Another was that at any given time, only 50 percent of priests were celibate — an estimate that the church said was overblown.
But Mr. Sipe’s most far-reaching conclusion was that those two phenomena were linked. Failures of celibacy among church leaders, he argued, even if they happened with adults, created a system of hypocrisy and secrecy in which the abuse of minors could take place.
That link is one that the church is still wrestling with, as suggested by recent disclosures that Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who resigned in July, rose to the highest levels of the church despite warnings that he had been inappropriately touching adult seminarians.
“Sooner or later it will become broadly obvious that there is a systemic connection between the sexual activity by, among and between clerics in positions of authority and control, and the abuse of children,” Mr. Sipe wrote in a letter to Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego in 2016.
“When men in authority — cardinals, bishops, rectors, abbots, confessors, professors — are having or have had an unacknowledged-secret-active-sex life under the guise of celibacy, an atmosphere of tolerance of behaviors within the system is made operative.”
In 1986, Mr. Sipe presented his findings to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, but nothing was done, Dr. Benkert Sipe said. So Mr. Sipe began working on the problem in other ways, becoming active in the early days of clergy-victim advocacy, writing books, consulting or testifying in some 250 trials on clergy abuse as an expert witness, and never backing down from his initial assertions.
“He had such an effect on so many different people in that he was a truth teller, and when people found him, they found a sense of being,” said Paul Livingston, a clergy abuse victim and friend. “He is irreplaceable.”
Walter Richard Sipe was born on Dec. 11, 1932, in Robbinsdale, Minn, as the fourth of 10 children of Walter C. Sipe, who owned several gas stations, and Elizabeth (Altendorf) Sipe, a homemaker.
His family were observant Catholics, and from an early age he was entranced by the church. He attended a high school and a college run by Benedictine monks at St. John’s Abbey in nearby Collegeville and became a monk himself. In 1959 he was ordained a priest. (He added the name Aquinas, after the theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, when he became a brother and then used the initial A. in his name.)
But it was not long before he realized to his shock that just below the surface of the church lay secrets that its hierarchy protected.
In his first posting, to Cold Spring, Minn., to work as a high school counselor, he heard in the confessional about priests who were sexually involved with other priests, priests who had girlfriends, and even priests who were involved with minors, he said in an interview in 2008 for a documentary film, “Sipe: Sex, Lies, and the Priesthood,” which is to be released this year.
He also learned that his predecessor had abused girls. Yet these men remained in good standing with the church, he said.
“So I asked myself, What is this celibacy, and how is it practiced by those people who claim to be celibate?” he said in the interview, giving voice to the research question that would animate his career.
In 1967, he became the director of family services at the Seton Psychiatric Institute in Baltimore, a treatment center where bishops sent problem priests. As he got to know the troubled men, he said, some revealed that they had been abused by clergymen themselves. He also heard stories about how church leaders had been dismissive of reports of abuse.
He began formally collecting data, seeking patterns. Leaving the priesthood in 1970, he married Marianne Benkert, a former nun who was doing her residency in psychiatry at the institute. In addition to her, Mr. Sipe is survived by a son, Walter, who is also a psychiatrist, and six siblings, Thomas, John, Bernadette, Michael, Elizabeth and Rosie.
With Dr. Benkert Sipe’s help, Mr. Sipe published his research in 1990 in a landmark ethnographic study of celibacy and abuse within the Catholic Church.
The book, “A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for Celibacy,” drew on case files and 25 years of interviews with hundreds of sexually active priests and victims of clergy sex abuse.
Mr. Sipe had naïvely assumed that his study would be welcomed by bishops, Dr. Benkert Sipe said. Instead, he was blackballed in some dioceses.
“When he wasn’t listened to, and wasn’t believed, it was really hurtful to him, because he cared about the church,” she said.
But there were also triumphs. One was the investigation into clergy sex abuse by The Boston Globe in 2002. It exposed widespread abuse and a cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston and spawned a nationwide reckoning. Mr. Sipe’s finding that the problem was systemic guided the Globe’s Spotlight investigative team of reporters, whose work was portrayed in the Academy Award-winning 2015 film “Spotlight.”
In the movie, the reporters listen to Mr. Sipe, played by Richard Jenkins, as he explains by speaker phone his finding that 6 percent of priests abuse minors. The reporters quickly calculate that that would mean 90 priests in Boston.
“Is that possible?” one reporter asks.
“Yes, that would certainly be in line with my findings,” the Sipe character says.
Since then more studies have come out showing that the 6 percent estimate may be conservative. In 2017, an investigation by the Australian Royal Commission found that 7 percent of priests in the Australian Catholic Church had been accused of sexually abusing children from 1950 to 2010. A study commissioned by the American bishops in 2004 put the percentage at 4 percent.
“He lived long enough to see many of his predictions come true,” said Phil Saviano, a clergy-abuse activist and friend.
Still, accountability for bishops continued to elude Mr. Sipe, frustrating him.
“I defy you to find where the system has changed,” he said in 2008. “Bishops are not accountable, they can — and do — do what they want.”
In recent weeks, a wider swath of the church appeared to be coming around to accepting that statement. Mr. Sipe had been warning on his website about the sexual activities of Cardinal McCarrick since 2008. After a substantiated report of abuse was revealed in June, followed by more allegations, some of the nation’s leading bishops began calling for reforms in how allegations against bishops are investigated.
Though Mr. Sipe had devoted his life to understanding the issues of celibacy and abuse, the deeper question of why the problem could persist unaddressed for so long still eluded him, said the Rev. Tom Doyle, a friend and longtime advocate for abuse victims.
On Tuesday, at Mr. Sipe’s bedside, the two men pondered the moral mystery of how so many clerics could look the other way, putting ecclesiastical ambition above doing the right thing by children.
“ ‘Will we ever find the answer?’ ” Mr. Sipe asked, Father Doyle said. “And I said, ‘You will know it, sooner than I will.’ ”
New York Times
A.W. Richard Sipe, a Leading Voice on Clergy Sex Abuse, Dies at 85
August 9, 2018
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/aw-richard-sipe-a-leading-voice-on-clergy-sex-abuse-dies-at-85.html
It grieves us deeply to inform you that a minor who participated in the recently-concluded National Catholic Youth Choir (NCYC) summer camp has made a serious report alleging misconduct by an adult associated with the camp.
You are being notified of the report, because you are either an adult alumnus of NCYC or the parent/guardian of a minor child who participated in the NCYC during the period the adult employee has been affiliated with the NCYC. The report involves communications and photographs of a sexual nature that allegedly occurred in 2018. Following receipt of the report, the employee was placed on a leave of absence. It is our understanding that the employee has denied the allegations.
Both the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office and Stearns County Human Services were promptly informed about the report. An investigation by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department is underway and we are cooperating fully. Giventhe serious nature of the allegation, the investigation into the report may expand; participants in NCYC camps and their families may be contacted by legal authorities.
On behalf of the NCYC, I want you to know that we are taking this matter very seriously and are committed to reaching out to any potential victims. In cases like this, our primary concerns are to care for any potential victims and to ensure that concerns of improper conduct are reported to the authorities. If you are the parent/guardian of a minor who participated in the NCYC, we encourage you to talk with your child about this report. If you have concerns that any NCYC participant may have experienced an act of abuse or other inappropriate behavior, we encourage you to report your concerns to the NCYC and to government authorities.
If you have questions or concerns or would like assistance in making a report to government authorities, please contact me at awruff@csbsju.edu or at (320) 363-3233. You can also contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office directly through Mark Mix at 320-259-3737.
Finally, we are attempting to reach all NCYC alumni and parents/guardians of NCYC minors who might have concerns to share or need support. If you know of an adult alumnus or a parent/guardian of a minor that participated in the NCYC with you or your child that has not received this email, please ask them to contact me using the email address or phone number set out above.
The St. John’s Boys Choir and the National Catholic Youth Choir recently learned of a report from a minor alleging misconduct by an adult associated with both organizations.
The report involves alleged communications and photographs of a sexual nature. Following the report, both organizations placed the adult on a leave of absence. It is the organizations’ understanding that the adult has denied the allegations.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s office and Stearns County Human Services were promptly informed about the report. An investigation by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department is underway and the St. John’s Boys Choir and the National Catholic Youth Choir are both cooperating fully.
Out of respect for the privacy of the minor and the minor’s family, we will not share additional information on the allegations at this time. We have reached out to those who participated in either choir during the time that the adult at issue was associated with the choir to inform them of this report and to encourage parents to talk to their children. We have also encouraged choir participants and their families to contact authorities if they have any concerns and to contact us with any questions or requests for assistance.
Michael Hemmesch
Spokesperson
In you have information regarding misconduct and/or the whereabouts of Rev. Michael Leonard Hahn O.S.B, please send us a note.
Hahn’s last known location was near Boston, Massachusetts. He was reportedly scheduled to arrive back in Collegeville three days ago but did not show up.
Hahn: https://www.csbsju.edu/sot/faculty/staff-listing/sot-faculty/hahn-michael-leonard
Andre’ Louis Heywood (artistic director of the St. John’s Boys’ Choir) is reportedly on “academic leave” after seen with law enforcement leaving the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the campus of Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota (USA) earlier this week.
André Heywood is in his fourth year as NCYC conductor. Dr. Heywood serves as Artistic Director of The Saint John’s Boys’ Choir, conductor of the Saint John’s Abbey Schola, and on the faculty of the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University where he directs the All-College Choir and Chapel Choir. His expertise in developing young voices has made him a highly sought-after clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor across North America and youth choirs under his direction have performed at Notre Dame de Paris, Sagrada Família in Barcelona, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has twice been awarded by the American Choral Directors’ Association of Minnesota – in 2011 with the Vocal Essence Creative Programming Award, and in 2013 as the Outstanding Young Director of the Year.
Text Source: https://www.catholicyouthchoir.org
Photo Source: https://www.zola.com/wedding/andreandmichael2018/photo
It grieves us deeply to inform you that a minor who participated in the recently-concluded National Catholic Youth Choir (NCYC) summer camp has made a serious report alleging misconduct by an adult associated with the camp.
Subject: Confidential Notification
Notice to NCYC Alumnae and Parents/Guardians
[Webmaster’s Note: Please do NOT contact Rev. Anthony Ruff (per his request, below) if you have information about any misconduct involving personnel from St. John’s. Father Anthony Ruff is a credibly accused predator and should not be trusted with young men or their stories of victimization. Please contact law enforcement if you are aware of any misconduct.]
It grieves us deeply to inform you that a minor who participated in the recently-concluded National Catholic Youth Choir (NCYC) summer camp has made a serious report alleging misconduct by an adult associated with the camp. You are being notified of the report, because you are either an adult alumnus of NCYC or the parent/guardian of a minor child who participated in the NCYC during the period the adult employee has been affiliated with the NCYC. The report involves communications and photographs of a sexual nature that allegedly occurred in 2018. Following receipt of the report, the employee was placed on a leave of absence. It is our understanding that the employee has denied the allegations.
Both the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office and Stearns County Human Services were promptly informed about the report. An investigation by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department is underway and we are cooperating fully. Giventhe serious nature of the allegation, the investigation into the report may expand; participants in NCYC camps and their families may be contacted by legal authorities.
On behalf of the NCYC, I want you to know that we are taking this matter very seriously and are committed to reaching out to any potential victims. In cases like this, our primary concerns are to care for any potential victims and to ensure that concerns of improper conduct are reported to the authorities. If you are the parent/guardian of a minor who participated in the NCYC, we encourage you to talk with your child about this report. If you have concerns that any NCYC participant may have experienced an act of abuse or other inappropriate behavior, we encourage you to report your concerns to the NCYC and to government authorities.
If you have questions or concerns or would like assistance in making a report to government authorities, please contact me atawruff@csbsju.edu or at (320) 363-3233. You can also contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office directly through Mark Mix at 320-259-3737.
Finally, we are attempting to reach all NCYC alumni and parents/guardians of NCYC minors who might have concerns to share or need support. If you know of an adult alumnus or a parent/guardian of a minor that participated in the NCYC with you or your child that has not received this email, please ask them to contact me using the email address or phone number set out above.
Thank you,
Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB
(USA Today) The grandson of one of the most celebrated football coaches in history finds himself off the sideline following an investigation in Minnesota.
As reported by twin cities CBS affiliate WCCO, the grandson of the late Saint John’s University football coach John Gagliardi, Johnny Benson, has been placed on paid administrative leave from his position as the football coach and teacher at Kimball (Minn.) High School.
The move to place Benson on leave follows a complaint made against the coach, though the nature of the complaint itself remains unknown. The local Sheriff’s Office from Stearns County reportedly confirmed that Benson is part of an ongoing investigation, but also could not provide any additional details.
(Bring Me The News) A Minnesota high school football coach has been suspended by his school pending an investigation into an alleged sexual assault. Kimball High School head football coach Johnny Benson has been placed on administrative leave from coaching and teaching duties while the investigation is ongoing.
More… Here
(KSTP) A Stearns County high school football coach under investigation by a school district and the sheriff’s office has stepped down.
A lawyer for the Kimball Area School District said Johnny Benson resigned the same day a special school board meeting was held to discuss the matter.
Benson left the district on Oct. 30, while the district says they were conducting an investigation into a complaint made against him and were cooperating with a criminal investigation.
More… john
Attorney Jeff Anderson and survivor Tim Nahan discusses Tim’s lawsuit against Saint John’s Abbey and the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Nahan was allegedly abused by Father Cosmas Dahlheimer at the Church of St. Joseph in St. Joseph, Minnesota when Tim was eight years old.
ST. JOSEPH — An unnamed person is no longer involved with the St. John’s Boys Choirs after the organization determined allegations of sexual misconduct against minors were “more likely than not.”
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office would not comment Friday about the case except to say its investigation was still active.
Read the entire article… Here
A former Kimball High School football coach and teacher who says false allegations of sexual assault cost him his job is sharing his story.
The Stearns County Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against John “Johnny” Benson, 27, in May following the county’s investigation into what Benson and an attorney describe as “blatantly false allegations” of sexual assault.
“I want people to know that I didn’t do anything wrong,” Benson said during a Saturday interview with the Times.
Read entire article… Here
(The Record) SJU Residential Life, Faculty Residents, Resident Assistants and Title IX officers are investigating allegations that St. John’s students on the first and second floors of St. Patrick Hall started a competition over who can have the most sexual interactions with Bennies.
On Wednesday, the administration sent an e-mail saying they were aware of the allegations and were conducting an investigation. Anyone with information is encouraged to come forward and contact Jeff Glover, the assistant director for student support. So far, the school has been unable to track which students are behind the competition, so instead a mandatory floor meeting for all residents was held in recent weeks to discuss the issue and start a larger conversation.
Liam Miller, the RA on Pat 1, and Glover first learned of the allegations a few weeks ago.
Read Full Article… Here
Reports surface of ‘sex competition’ in Patrick Hall
The Record
October 19, 2021
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University are investigating allegations that some male students started a competition this fall to see who could have more sexual encounters with female students.
View Original Story… Here
The allegations were first reported by The Record, the student newspaper for both colleges, which are Roman Catholic schools.
Katie Alvino, a spokeswoman for the partner schools, said the administration has been investigating since they learned about the allegations in late September. Alvino wouldn’t confirm the nature of the allegations, citing the investigation, but said in a statement to The Associated Press: “We will not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form. We are utilizing trained, impartial, third party investigators to determine the responsible parties.”
It was not immediately clear whether any of the allegations involved criminal acts, such as sexual assault.
The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University are in the central Minnesota city of Collegeville. Men attend St. John’s and women attend St. Benedict’s.
According to The Record, some students in a St. John’s dorm started a competition to see who could have the most sexual encounters with St. Benedict students who were on a list. Liam Miller, a resident assistant in St. Patrick Hall, told the newspaper points were assigned for various things, but additional details were unclear.
The Institute for Women’s Leadership at the College of St. Benedict is encouraging St. Benedicts’ students to walk out of class Thursday afternoon and participate in a sit-in to demand action and stand up against sexual misconduct.
CSB, SJU Investigate Alleged Sex Competition
October 20, 2021
https://knsiradio.com/2021/10/20/csb-sju-investigate-alleged-sex-competition/
With the long-overdue addition of Sister Ann Marie Biermaier from St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota (USA), our list of credibly accused individuals affiliated with St. John’s is now at 103.