Here's the 2 posts, human:
Originally Posted by Sleuthgates
In regard to St Johns Abbey it appears from their publications that I have perused, that they are not Christians in belief. It is anyone's guess what this may cloak.
(Coincidentally in a completely separate case a sexually abusive priest was said to have "bizarre theology".)
It's plausible they might be regarded by some elements as an informative pool regarding strategic intelligence, and/or means of gaining tactical intelligence, and/or miscellaneous resources, for example.
(That goes for another case in connection with which they are mentioned, too.)
Interestingly they sent priests to man not only St Josephs but also several parishes in the St Paul-Minneapolis conurbation. It could be anyone's guess by whom they may have been contacted in more than one location.
I would be interesting to know whether St Cloud diocese and St Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese would also be considered to bear vicarious liability for employing the monks from the Abbey in their parishes.
Some (but only 11) monk records were reviewed in connection with the Wetterling abduction in '02 reportedly.
It shocks me how your politicians apparently think it suitable to not prosecute on sexual offences, and if they had done, some of those men would have been out of circulation and less liable to pass on bits of information however peripheral in a crime like this one.
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my response back then:
It's not really up to our sheriff or politicians to prosecute anyone at St. John's. They have their own little "town" as it were, and are under diocesan (sp?) or papal rule more than under local law enforcement. This is true of any priests in the US, if they do wrong, they are removed or punished by their bishop - who is directly over them. Sometimes, it goes all the way to the pope, as it did when there were several cases of abuse brought to light by priests (and monks) across the country a few years back.
(It's not only the US, of course, I'm sure the UK and other countries have their share of wayward ministers, people who get into the profession with the wrong intent - or go bad once they are in there.) Because there were 3 assaults/kidnappings in this area, St. John's has really been put under a spotlight by some of us. Some of these priests and monks admitted their wrongs also and were never really "punished" as a civilian would be. I think if they had been more open when Josh and Jacob went missing and allowed searches, they wouldn't be in this position now.
It does make it easier for a large community of priests like St. John's to "hide" these priests though, and protect them from actual prison, by saying they are on restrictions at the abbey. It's my opinion that these cover ups have been aided by grads from St. John's, many of whom have become influential lawyers, politicians, newspaper editors (or journalists and TV), and prominent business men. Money talks. You can bet if it was just a tiny poor cloister of monks in a small group there would have been much more media attention thrown on them.
I do want to stress that just because they have some bad priests there, like any group in society that has bad apples, there are also good points about St. Johns. St. John's is a wonderful college offering opportunities to students from across the globe, and has had many fine graduates. I'd hate to denounce the whole college because of these abusive priests that were never handled properly.
