(Bring Me The News) The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University are investigating reports of a competition among some Johnnies students to have the most sexual encounters with specified Bennies.

View The Original Story… Here

Will Schwinghammer, editor-in-chief of CSB/SJU’s student newspaper The Record, broke the story, describing a “sex competition” being run by male students from St. Patrick Hall. The story says there is a list of female students, with Johnnie participants potentially able to earn points for certain things. When the existence of this competition reached school officials, they arranged a floor meeting for residents to discuss the impact of this type of behavior, the paper reported.

CSB/SJU, in a statement to Bring Me The News, said they learned about these allegations in late September, and since then have been “actively addressing” the situation. That includes working with “trained investigators to determine the responsible parties.”

“We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which all members of the community are aware of and respect the rights and human dignity of every other member,” the statement continued, noting cases that rise to potential criminal behavior would be reported to local law enforcement.

At this point, CSB/SJU does not have any indication of sexual assault or violence linked to the competition, the spokesperson said.

The health organization CERTS also commented on the allegations, saying it is “deeply saddened” by recent events.

“It is never okay to objectify anyone, including students at CSB/SJU,” the group said.

CSB/SJU told Bring Me The News: “We fully support the Institute for Women’s Leadership and their right to peacefully protest.”

The spokesperson said the schools cannot comment further due to the active investigation.

CSB/SJU investigating allegations of ‘sex competition’ run by male students
Bring Me The News
October 20, 2021
SHAYMUS MCLAUGHLIN
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/college-saint-benefit-and-sju-investigating-allegations-of-sex-competition-run-by-male-students

COLLEGEVILLE (St. Cloud Times) — Almost 400 College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University students gathered in the heart of the St. John’s campus Thursday afternoon, missing class to show solidarity and demand action from administration after allegations of a ‘sex competition’ among some SJU students surfaced last week.

View the Original Article… Here

An email sent to students Oct. 13 from the colleges’ vice presidents for student development said administration was informed in late September that several student residents of the first and second floors of St. Patrick Hall at St. John’s University allegedly competed “to see who could sleep with the most females” at the College of St. Benedict.

The colleges said in an email to students Tuesday that they have hired an external investigator to collect information about the matter.

In a statement issued in response to an inquiry from the St. Cloud Times, the schools said: “Violence or sexual assault against any student will not be tolerated and will be investigated thoroughly through our sexual misconduct policy. These cases may also be reported to local law enforcement for possible criminal charges. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which all members of the community are aware of and respect the rights and human dignity of every other member.”

Demanding action

Members of the campus group Institute for Women’s Leadership led the walkout and sit-in on Thursday, and issued a petition earlier in the week to spread awareness about the allegations and “bring about change at both the student and administrative levels.”

Some of the demands in the petition include implementing mandatory Title IX, bystander intervention and safe-space training for resident assistants, as well as increasing the security presence on campus transportation and guaranteeing students transportation between campuses after the last bus runs “in order to ensure each student is able to get home safely.”

Other demands call for reestablishing the Men’s Development Institute with student employment funding and to require all St. John’s athletes, RAs and senators to participate in Men as Peacemakers BEST curriculum, a model for sexual assault prevention on college campuses.

A history of complacency

As a crowd gathered with signs near the Reef Entrance of the Quad, students led a prayer, chanted for change and spoke out.

Sadik said these allegations reflect a history of toxic masculinity and complacency at St. John’s and St. Ben’s.

“Some Johnnies allow their peers and friends to get away with these actions because it has nothing to do with them,” she said, which was met with cheers from the crowd. “Bennies have talked about how scared they feel walking alone at St. John’s University. Listen to these stories. Some of you might have these same thoughts as well.”

Students who are survivors of sexual assault and harassment told their own stories, as well as the lasting impact of the assaults on their lives and future relationships.

Several students said they hear St. John’s students talk about the alleged competition as a “game” or a “joke,” without acknowledging how triggering or demeaning that is for survivors and for St. Ben’s students as a whole. Others spoke about how St. John’s and St. Ben’s didn’t properly support them after their assaults and did not hold their abusers accountable. There were no counter protestors at the event.

Junior Addey Vochoska said she was angered to see administration email students about the allegations weeks after first hearing about them. She also said she felt like administration buried its announcement of the allegations in its Oct. 13 email by mentioning it only after announcements about rowdiness on weekend buses and vandalism on campus.

“Basically, if nobody wanted to read the email they wouldn’t have seen it,” she said. “If we didn’t make such a big deal about it, it wouldn’t have been known.”

Sydney Robinson, a College of St. Benedict alumna who works in the multicultural center, said students are tired of the idea that “boys will be boys” and are disappointed, but not surprised, to hear about the allegations.

“The main narrative that’s going around is that students are speaking up and holding them accountable,” they said. “And that’s more powerful than anything else.”

CSB/SJU community demands action after allegation of ‘sex competition’ among St. John’s students
St. Cloud Times
October 21, 2021
Becca Most

Among the 100+ accused perpetrators at St. John’s are eleven graduates of St. John’s Preparatory School:

Fr. Angelo Zankl (SJP ’18)
Abbot John Eidenschink (SJP ’31)
Fr. Aloysius Michels (SJP ’30)
Fr. Allen Tarlton (SJP ’46)
Fr. Thomas Thole (SJP ’53)
Fr. Brennan Maiers (SJP ’54)
Fr. Thomas Gillespie (SJP ’55)
Fr. Bruce Wollmering (SJP ’58)
Fr. Daniel Ward (SJP ’62)
Fr. Tom Andert (SJP ’65)
Br. Stephen Lilly (SJP ’74)

Father Brennan Maiers was inappropriate with at least six individuals, the youngest victim was believed to be eleven years old. In 1992, the abbey settled with one of Maiers’ victims.

His victims would likely disagree with this line of his obituary:

“Father Brennan was a gentle man of compassion and pastoral alertness.”

Maiers’ 2003 External Review Board Biography… 2003 Abbots File Maiers

According to the Abbey:

April 27, 1936
Professed: July 11, 1957
Ordained June 1, 1963
Died July 22, 2022

Father Brennan died on 22 July in the retirement center at Saint John’s Abbey. He is survived by Sisters Grace Marie and Gen Maiers OSB, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, Saint Joseph; Theresa Kuttner, Stewart; Allan Maiers, Hutchinson; and the community of Saint John’s Abbey.

The monks, family, and friends will receive the body on Wednesday, 27 July at 7:00 p.m. and celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial for Father Brennan at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, 28 July, in Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, with interment in the abbey cemetery.

Read the Obituary Here

Former St. John’s Abbey monk regarding Rev. Robert Koopmann:

I told you [Koopmann’s] story was yet to be told!! I sent him an email once telling him one day his secrets would be made public and his hypocrisy would do him in. Two weeks later he decided to resign from his position as president of SJU. Still the one guys I know for sure he performed oral sex on in the abbey, who is no longer a monk, will NOT say a word – he’s still very loyal to the order. Even after I tried to persuade him of the damage these men do, he feels he would be a hypocrite to condemn what he so willingly participated in as a monk. – February 13, 2016

“The Koopmann I know likes to get his students drunk and read ejaculate poetry while trying on hand-knit cockwarmers.” – Former SJU Student (February, 2016)

At the time of this incident, Koopmann was a Faculty Resident at St. John’s University.

The Faculty Resident’s role is that of counselor, pastor, and friend. His primary role is to provide a “presence” on the floor. The Faculty Resident serves as an adult mentor in the residence area who supports the Resident Assistant(s) and the residential community in developing a sense of responsibility and commitment. The Faculty Resident assists the Resident Assistant(s) and the students in their own growth as human beings and to model an attitude consistent with the values of our residential, liberal arts college in the Catholic, Benedictine tradition. Therefore, the relationship between the Faculty Resident and the Resident Assistant needs to be open and mutually supportive.

In 1982, Rev. Bob Koopmann was part of the coverup involving a visiting monk, Bede Parry from Conception Abbey in Missouri.

(StarTribune) COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. — After more than two decades at the helm of St. John’s Abbey, John Klassen is resigning as leader of the central Minnesota monastery.

Read Entire Article… Here

During his 23-year tenure, Klassen oversaw the creation of outreach programs and helped with the recent transition that better integrates the two private schools it’s connected to — St. John’s University and College of St. Benedict — under a single president.

He also led the organization as it reckoned with rampant sexual abuse by nearly two dozen monks that was kept hidden for years — long after the statute of limitations for the crimes had run out.

“I can’t undo what’s been done,” Klassen said in a parting interview three days before monks will gather to elect a new abbot in his stead. “I think the most important thing I could do was to listen carefully and compassionately to individuals — their account of what happened and its impact on them.”

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That willingness to listen earned Klassen the respect of Jeff Anderson, an attorney who has filed thousands of cases on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse over the past four decades.

“I would call him a reformer and a revolutionary. He got a lot of pushback from the community that elected him,” Anderson said.

“Time and time again, as we would negotiate new settlements or new ways to deal with the problems of the past, he always stood outside the traditions … and was willing to stand up and speak the truth that gave survivors hope.”

‘Among the most predatory’

When Klassen was elected by his peers as the 10th abbot of the organization in 2000, the decades of unchecked abuse were just starting to come to light. The accused monks worked as teachers, counselors, parish priests and chaplains across Minnesota and beyond. Files released in recent years show the monks were transferred to other religious work even though the abbey was aware of sexual wrongdoing.

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Since then, the abbey has faced dozens of civil lawsuits related to sexual abuse. And, as part of a settlement, the abbey was ordered to turn over the files of every St. John’s monk accused of abuse.

The abbey now lists 21 monks credibly accused of sexually abusing children, though some think that number is a drastic undercount. Four still live on campus.

Anderson started representing survivors abused by monks at St. John’s in the early 1980s. He said the culture there was “among the most predatory” in the country.

“They’re a monastery, and that means they live together, they eat together, they pray together, and they are all so loyal to one another,” Anderson said. “As I unraveled their secrets and their practices, I found them to be among the most perilous … of all those I had encountered — that was dozens and dozens across this country.”

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Anderson said he found it difficult to work with Klassen’s predecessor, Timothy Kelly, who is also accused of child sexual abuse but is not listed on the abbey’s site. But where Kelly was combative, Klassen was kind and willing to listen.

“I realized there was something very different and authentic about him,” he said.

Patrick Marker, a former St. John’s Preparatory School student who has long run a website documenting alleged sexual misconduct at the abbey, said the abbey’s list of abusers is incomplete. On his website, he lists 58 monks and 13 other members of the St. John’s community who abused minors or adults such as college-age students.

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Marker, who previously worked with Klassen on an external review board created to investigate allegations, said he doesn’t think Klassen has done enough to support survivors or increase transparency.

“Here’s my problem with him: There has never been a name announced that wasn’t about to be announced by law enforcement or a filed lawsuit,” Marker said. “He has not been forthcoming and proactive. He has been extremely reactive and has settled with victims for pennies on the dollar.”

Rebuilding trust with the community has been slow, Klassen said. During his tenure, the abbey implemented better screening of candidates for the monastery and implemented protocols to raise awareness about abuse and keep minors safe, similar to protocols implemented by youth organizations such as the YMCA and Boy Scouts.

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The abbey also created “safety plans” for credibly accused monks still living on campus: They cannot officiate at Mass or associate with students.

Klassen said because of the protocols, he knows of no incidents of sexual abuse of a minor by a St. John’s monk in more than two decades. He said the abbey has no outstanding lawsuits in Minnesota, though there are three active cases related to the abbey in New York.

Bells will signify a new abbot

St. John’s Abbey leader John Klassen during noon prayer at St John’s University on Jan. 5, 2024 in Collegeville, Minn.

Renée Jones Schneider, Star Tribune

Klassen is now just one of about 100 monks in the monastery, which, at its height in the early 1960s, had more than 400. Klassen became a Benedictine monk in 1972 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.

He’s called Collegeville home most of his life. After growing up on a dairy farm in western Stearns County, Klassen attended the prep school on campus and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. John’s. After obtaining a doctorate, he taught chemistry before being elected abbot.

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As part of monastery rules, an abbot must step down before they are age 75. The monks will gather beginning Monday to elect a new abbot during a somewhat secretive, nonpublic process that could take a few days. The abbey church will then ring its bells to proclaim a leader has been selected, and the monastic community will march into the church with the new abbot at the end of the procession.

When Klassen reaches his 75th birthday in March, he plans to be practicing his newly learned Spanish at a monastery near Mexico City.

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“I’d really like to become competent, I think, is the right word,” he said with a chuckle. “Fluent is too high a goal I think in my life.”

And when Klassen returns to Minnesota in the summer, he plans to spend time writing and focusing on environmental issues.

“And then I’ll do what the abbot tells me to,” he said.

Read More… Here

StarTribune.com

January 7, 2024

According to two staff members at St. John’s Prep School, a teacher is no longer at the school following an alleged incident with a student that was reported “about two weeks ago”.

One staff member said that parents have not been contacted.

The school has removed the teacher’s profile from its online directory [Here].

Developing…

SJP Staff and Parents,

Last week I received a tip which read:

“… keep an eye in the news for [teacher’s name], up until two weeks ago she was a teacher of Spanish at St.Johns Prep. Released suddenly with “internal” investigation she was having sex with a current student.”

Sure enough, the school’s web site has been scrubbed of this employee’s presence, minus a promotional video in which they remain prominently featured.

This past week, I spoke with two brave staff members who told me that this teacher is no longer at the school following an alleged “incident” with a student that was reported “about two weeks ago”. One of the staff members said that the school’s parents have not been contacted regarding the alleged incident.

Parents, you have now been contacted.

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office has also been contacted. If you have any additional information regarding misconduct at the Prep School, please contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office at 320-251-4240.

Many staff members and students are not aware of the history of sexual misconduct at St. John’s Prep School. I was a victim in 1982 and 1983, as were many of my friends. I have a database of over 300 victims and 100+ alleged perpetrators. Among them, Fr. Tom Andert, a prep school graduate who paid special attention to his alum friends’ children.

Monks like Fr. Jonathan Licari and Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer and most of all, Abbot John Klassen, have consistently toed the company line, putting the needs and mental health of victims second. I blame them for my removal from campus during lunch at my 30 year class reunion in 2013.

Google it.

You’ll also find that the current abbot at St. John’s Abbey has also faced misconduct allegations.

Dozens and dozens of allegations have been settled over the years. Eight more, in the last two years, that I know of.

In 2023, seven former Prep School students who were abused settled against the Order of St. Benedict, St. John’s Abbey and Abbot John Klassen.

In 2022, another settlement was reached… against the Order of St. Benedict, St. John’s Abbey, Saint John’s Prep School, Abbot John Klassen and Saint John’s University. This involved a former monk who was victimized by an older monk. The worst part… Abbot Klassen claimed that the abbey was no longer the “right fit” for the young monk after he was victimized.

On Monday, as you plan to come to work – or send your children to school – remember that this community has a long history of compromise. Your students and children are part of a community that has been lied to… for decades.

Please become part of the solution and require true and full transparency.

Patrick J Marker (SJP ’83)

Seven years before being outed as a monk perpetrator, Rev. Francisco Schulte wrote an interesting letter to Abbot John Klassen.  It seems Schulte was not happy that Patrick Marker was named to the Abbey’s External Review Board.

In the early 1980’s, Schulte warned at least one student to stay away from Rev. Dunstan Moorse. Schulte could have warned Marker to stay away from Moorse, but didn’t.

Between 1991 and 2003, Marker had been compiling information about “Padre Cisco” and it was only a matter of time – in 2010 to be exact – before that information would result in an official complaint.

Read the letter… Here (PDF)

“Throughout their investigation, they spoke with three adults and four students, who had the same general complaints and views. They all said Talic and [redacted] were constantly by each other and constantly touching each other.” – Stearns County Sheriff Case #24011260

“At one point in time, Talic said [redacted] is her “bodyguard” for the day. While [redacted] was sitting on one of the chairs, Talic was sitting on the arm rest nd was constantly touching him.”

Read PDF… Here

(SC Times) A former student at St. John’s Prep has sued the school, St. John’s Abbey, the Order of St. Benedict and the Rev. Michael Bik, accusing Bik of sexually abusing him in 1998.

The lawsuit filed Monday alleges negligence in Prep School leaders allowing Bik to teach at the school 28 years after Bik abused two boys while he was a lay teacher at an Anoka school.

Read Entire Article and View Comments… Here

A partial list of Michael Hahn’s assignments.

Updated May 8, 2024

Facebook Post – May 9, 2024

According to the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota website Hahn is “currently the assistant dean of the school of education and is the current program director of character and virtue education at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.”  [Link]

[Note: Updates to this article appear at the bottom of the page.]

Michael Hahn completed his BA in political science from Saint John’s University in 2005. While an undergrad, Hahn was on the mock trial team and participated in student government. It was during this time that Hahn developed a loyalty and close relationship with several monks including Rev. Robert Koopmann, OSB.

Note: In 2003-2004, Hahn served on the senate with the Saint Mary’s current Chief of Staff, Andrew Dirksen.

Hahn spent three years in New Jersey was a Benedictine Volunteer and taught at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School under the direction of the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey. In 2008, Hahn completed his Master’s in Systematic Theology from Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Before entering Saint John’s Abbey as a novice in 2009, Hahn taught theology at Cathedral High School in Saint Cloud during the 2009-2010 school year. Hahn taught at Cathedral despite his lack of an education degree of or an educator’s license. Hahn was a faculty resident and undergraduate theology teacher at Saint John’s University.

Michael Hahn became a solemnly vowed monk at Saint John’s Abbey on September 14, 2010. Hahn was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Donald Kettler of the Diocese of Saint Cloud on December 7, 2013 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest by Bishop Kettler into the Saint Cloud Diocese on May 31, 2014. [Link]

Prior to being ordained, Hahn served as chaplain to the National Catholic Youth Choir. The choir was directed by Rev. Anthony Ruff, OSB. At that time, Hahn and others knew that Ruff was a credibly accused monk from Saint John’s Abbey.

Note: Anthony Ruff currently teaches at the Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary. He is moderator of the popular liturgy blog “Pray Tell.”  His sexual misconduct has never been made public by Saint John’s University or Saint John’s Abbey.

Hahn began his doctoral work (Ph.D. in Theology and Education) at Boston College in 2014 Hahn was scheduled to teach at Saint John’s University in the fall of 2019.

On April 1, 2019, Rev. Eric Hollas wrote in his blog that Hahn was scheduled to resume teaching at Saint John’s University in the fall of 2019:

“This last week we received word that our confrere Father Michael-Leonard Hahn successfully defended his Pd.D. dissertation.  This fall he will return from his studies at Boston College to teach at Saint John’s University.” – A Monk’s Chronicle; Rev. Eric Hollas’ Blog (April 1, 2019)

Change of Plans

In the late April of 2019, Hahn was credibly accused of making what would later be described by Abbot John Klassen as “unwanted sexual advances.” The advances reportedly included coerced oral sex. The behavior dated back to 2016.

On July 10 2019, SJU Professor Campbell-Reed sent an email to one of her students (Hahn’s victim) regarding her report/conversation with Judy Bednar (SJU’s Title IX Coordinator). Bednar’s response was forwarded as part of that email:

“I shared there may be more than one individual impacted by [Hahn].”

The very next day, Rev. Donald Tauscher OSB was reportedly overheard reading a memo from the Abbot’s private bulletin board:

“Oh shit, not another one!” – Rev. Donald Tauscher July 11, 2019

Note: Dozens of individuals from Collegeville have been credibly accused of misconduct. [The List]

Reportedly, Michael Hahn had been summoned home to the cloister (from Boston College) and would not be teaching at Saint John’s in the fall.

Hahn had originally planned to return at the end of July, according to the Jury 14, 2019 church bulletin from Newton, Massachusetts where Hahn had served as a “Priest in Residence” which pursuing his degree.

The same church bulletin makes another reference to the speedy departure:

July 14, 2019 – Sacred Heart and Our Lady’s – Newton, MA Bulletin [Link]

Michael Hahn did not return to the abbey as directed. [Link]

Fewer than three weeks later, on March 30, 2020 Michael Hahn begins his work at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota as the Program Director of Virtue and Character Education.

The school did not announce Hahn’s hiring to the public until June 2, 2020.  [Link]

Note: The announcement from Saint Mary’s makes no mention of Hahn’s time as a monk or Catholic priest.

In September of 2020, Abbot John Klassen wrote that Hahn had caused “considerable strain” for the victim. More importantly however, of the victim, Klassen wrote:

“He was innocent in all respects.” – Abbot John Klassen – September, 2020

Today

According to the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota website Hahn is “currently the assistant dean of the school of education and is the current program director of character and virtue education at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.”  [Link]

In April of 2024, after concerns were reported regarding Hahn’s abrasive leadership, the hostile work environment he has cultivated, financial and travel concerns, questionable relationships and uncomfortable interactions – including what one former employee described as inappropriate/grooming behavior – a report regarding Hahn’s past misconduct was made to the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.

“I believe that if somebody did something to Joshua that had any connection to the campus whatsoever, we’re never gonna find him, ever. Not even a body. Ever. Because they’re too secretive.” Lisa Cheney (Joshua’s mother) from Unsolved Mysteries said.

What happened to Joshua Guimond?

On the night of November 9, 2002, a college junior at Saint John’s University went missing. Gone without a trace, this case has been without new information and has been a cold case for approximately 21 years, 22 years this upcoming November. Why has there been no new information released to the public? Why does no one want to talk about Joshua? There are a lot of questions that arise when the disappearance of Joshua Guimond is mentioned.

View the entire article as a PDF

View the Original Article at The LeSabre

The LeSabre
What happened to Joshua Guimond?
Kylee Williams
March 18, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A St. John’s priest accused of sexual abuse allegedly told his victim it was required as a part of the confirmation process.

On Monday, a new lawsuit was filed against Father Michael Bik and St. John’s Abbey.

Prosecutors say Bik abused a boy at St. John’s Prep after the school learned he sexually abused two students in the 1970s, when he was a teacher at St. Stephens in Anoka.

They say Bik admitted to the abuse in 1998 and St. John’s allowed him to keep teaching.

Lawyers are asking any other victims to come forward before the Child Victims Act window legislation expires on May 25.

Source: Here

Another St. John’s Priest Accused Of Abuse
WCCO – TV
May 9, 2016

In February of 2006, a representative of the Archdiocese of New York called Saint John’s Abbey to report that a former Saint John’s Abbey monk/priest, Father Agustin Cerezo Murillo, had been credibly accused of multiple allegations of sexual abuse while serving at Saint Anselm’s Church in the Bronx (New York) in the late 1960’s.

For over ten years, Abbot John Klassen has deceived the Saint John’s community and failed to advocate for – and validate the abuse suffered by – Father Cerezo Murillo’s victims.

Father Cerezo Murillo entered the Novitiate at Saint John’s Abbey in 1949 and professed his solemn vows in 1950.

Father Cerezo Murillo received the order of Diaconate in 1955,  was ordained on June 8, 1956 and said his first mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City two days later.

One of Father Cerezo Murillo’s victims was 11 years old at the time she was abused in approximately 1969. By the next year, Father Cerezo Murillo was removed from Saint Anselm’s and quietly moved to Mexico where he was reportedly incardinated into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico in the early 1970s.

The abbot at Saint John’s Abbey at the time Father Cerezo Murillo was caught, recalled and released was Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, OSB.

In 2006, Msgr. Desmond O’Conner, Personnel Director and Victims Coordinator at the Archdiocese of New York reported to the Saint John’s Abbey that there were “other episodes” during his time at Saint Anselm’s and that Father Cerezo Murillo was “withdrawn from the parish.”

Despite multiple credible allegations, Saint John’s Abbey has yet to release any information or documentation regarding Father Agustin Cerezo Murillo.

If fact, they’ve done the opposite.

In January of 2016, Saint John’s Abbey created a web site [ More ] released the partial files of eighteen perpetrating monks. Included with the release was this lie:

The files released in the Transparency Initiative are those of all the monks, past and present, who have likely offended against minors.

Additional excerpts from “A Conversation with Abbot John Klassen, OSB, Regarding the Transparency Initiative” [ View as PDF ] include:

“The files reflect all the effective actions that have been taken in the past quarter-century to publicly reach out to other survivors of abuse and to implement effective policies and actions to stop additional incidents of abuse.” said Abbot John Klassen, OSB. 

There has not been a decades long commitment by the abbey to help the healing of survivors.

There has been no public outreach to the victims of Father Augustin Cerezo Murillo.

The Father Agustin Cerezo Murillo matter is a perfect example of how Abbot John Klassen has deceived the Saint John’s community and failed to advocate for – and validate the abuse suffered by – Father Cerezo Murillo’s victims.

Yet another example of how Abbot John Klassen has failed as Saint John’s spiritual leader.