MN MN - Joshua Guimond, 20, Collegeville, 9 Nov 2002

[Mandy113]

I never understood how our society, including law enforcement, could know that sexual abuse was occuring in schools such as St. John's, and just pretend like it wasn't happening or didn't matter.

In researching Josh's disappearance, you will see that in the weeks prior to him vanishing, he was googling such terms as "statute of limitations on sexual abuse at St. John's University." (BBM)

Evidence in cases like Josh's wind up being circumstantial because the perpetrators are so well versed in their criminal ways, and meticulous in the execution of their evil deeds.

And, as one poster so astutely pointed out, who would have been a better "lure" for a young person than a priest asking for help with something, etc.

To me, the worst offenders are people who abuse their positions of power in order to satisfy their own perverse agendas. And the most horrible thing of all -- other people allow them to do it, with no accountability.

I have a few questions maybe you can answer. Is St John's Abbey part of the University ... on the campus I mean? I'm trying to understand if they are separate entities or if they two flow together as one.

Is the a way to access a list of the faculty of the University when Josh was there?

How was it discovered Josh was googling terms related to sexual abuse at St Johns? Who else would have known about Josh's interest in this?

When Josh went missing, I read St John's refused to let police investigate the site? What does this refer to ... the Abbey itself or campus property?

I apologize if I'm asking questions in the wrong place, simply direct me elsewhere if so. Some answers I may still come across as I'm reading. I've already come across lots of disturbing information about St John's & I have no idea where it leads.

 

[Mandy113]

Very good news video recapping Josh's case here. His mother is probably my age and his grandfather reminds me of my late dad. I don't understand why none of Josh's friends wanted to comment on the story though. I'm hooked on this case now.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/investigators-searching-for-josh-may-24-2010

 

[concentric]

I've been posting on the Jacob Wetterling thread, but I'm on track with you guys (I think) about Josh's case. I used to post on another crime website and am fairly well acquainted long-term with both cases and also with the priest/monk sexual abuse at St. John's.

I thought it was interesting that Aaron, Jacob's friend, was studying Psychology at St. John's and graduated in 2000. So I wondered what Aaron thought of the pedophile priest/monk situation over there--perhaps he wasn't even aware of it or something? From what I discovered, reading online, is that the chairman of the Psychology Dept. resigned over sexual harassment/abuse allegations, etc. in 2003?

Wonder if Aaron and Josh's father or friends have ever discussed the issue together and if they think somehow the case of Jacob and Josh are related in any way.

 

[Mandy113]

Every time I decide it's just way too bizarre to think the cases of Josh & Jacob Wetterling could be connected in any way .... I think about the outrageous things I've read about St John's. Then reading that DR had running trails to St John's ... just another weird coincidence? All of it makes my head spin.

I'm not convinced either of these cases were impossible to solve. What I'm concerned with is that nobody wanted to search more extensively for the answers because the truth was too disturbing. I'm really not a conspiracy theorist but some facts can't be ignored. Who would want to believe your neighbor, a member of a well respected family in the community, a teacher ... could kidnap a young boy? Who could think sending your child off to a respected school to get the best education possible could end up with them missing, never to be seen again?

Jacob's case received extensive publicity and the investigation has never stopped, so it seems. Josh has received far less media exposure and the investigation seems to have stalled out early. Yet neither one of them has been found. Why? Where are these boys?

Sorry, just needed a moment to rant. Back to reading ....

 

[shergal]

I have a few questions maybe you can answer. Is St John's Abbey part of the University ... on the campus I mean? I'm trying to understand if they are separate entities or if they two flow together as one.

Is the a way to access a list of the faculty of the University when Josh was there?

How was it discovered Josh was googling terms related to sexual abuse at St Johns? Who else would have known about Josh's interest in this?

When Josh went missing, I read St John's refused to let police investigate the site? What does this refer to ... the Abbey itself or campus property?

I apologize if I'm asking questions in the wrong place, simply direct me elsewhere if so. Some answers I may still come across as I'm reading. I've already come across lots of disturbing information about St John's & I have no idea where it leads.

Hi Mandy,
I've been posting on the Jacob Wetterling site also. I live in the area. I can answer some of your questions on St. John's.
The university, prep school, church. and abbey are all one piece, on one large campus. There is also the Liturgical Press, and they print various religious publications. The church is an actual parish for the surrounding area besides just the campus. There is a small "village" (maybe 15 or 20 homes?) called Collegeville that attends there. Collegeville used to be mostly lay staff, but now has others living there as well. There are also some large farms around the campus, and many lakes and woods.

Here is the university website:
http://www.csbsju.edu/
St. Ben's (which used to be an all female school and is located in St. Joseph, MN) and St. John's (which used to be all male) are now one college and share teachers. If you scroll down under admissions you can see a virtual tour. Click on Campus Maps under virtual tours, and then click on St. John's. It calls up a map with all buildings. When you click on individual buildings, it gives you a history and description of each building, who resides there, or what is taught there, etc. The monks used to live in the Quadrangle. I'm not sure which building the restricted monks & priests are in.

Here is the St. John's Abbey website
http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/
as you can see, St. John's prep school and college are listed on their website.

They gave various links such as a photo tour and current staff:
http://www.sjprep.net/pages/PhotoTour/

Current Staff at the prep school:
http://www.sjprep.net/pages/FacultyAdministration/

Also, let me just say that in spite of these priest scandals, St. John's does have many good points. It's a beautiful campus with many excellent teachers, international study opportunities, a gorgeous church (with a somewhat creepy crypt beneath it), and they still make the traditional St. John's bread there which is very tasty. ;-) Famous potter, Richard Bresnahan, has a kiln and studio there and they have a wonderful library and the Hill Monastic Library has some great minds working on translating ancient scrolls from Egypt. They also have people working on illustrating the bible by hand: http://www.wordtrade.com/religion/bible/saintjohnR.htm
I just mention all this, because I hate to have people think St. John's is just a pedo hideout, it's also an excellent college. (I'm not sure I'd want any son of mine attending the prep school there, but that's just MO.)

 

[shergal]

oh and..

"How was it discovered Josh was googling terms related to sexual abuse at St Johns? Who else would have known about Josh's interest in this?"

They (not sure if LE or FBI or who) searched Josh's computer after his disappearance to try and find clues and found those searches on his computer.

 

[Mandy113]

Thanks so much for all that info Shergal. I don't think St John's itself is an evil entity and I'm sure it has done much for the community and it has a great deal to offer. I believe the number of pedophile priests or monks to be relatively small. What does much more to damage St John's reputation is the appearance they are not dealing with these issues head on. The refusal to let the family begin their Justice for Josh march on campus baffles me.

I'm following the Jacob Wetterling thread also. I hope his family can finally have an answer. I'm also thankful the investigation is bringing some attention back to Josh. Even if the cases turn out to be not related in any way, at least people are being reminded of Josh's story.

 

[ThePhantom]

"From what I discovered, reading online, is that the chairman of the Psychology Dept. resigned over sexual harassment/abuse allegations, etc. in 2003?" Some people on campus think this monk resembles the perp who took Jacob -- just "fyi."

There is so much hidden -- so very much -- that it will take nothing short of divine intervention to crack through the wall of deceit that surrounds the abbey.

But if we don't try -- if we just throw our hands up in the air and give up -- we will be doing exactly what they (sheriff, abbey, politicians, some people in the community) want us to do. To them, it's a stand off -- and since they have all the power, they believe that ultimately, if they just keep dodging the truth, casting aspersions on the Guimond family, questioning our credibility, answering honest questions with lies and mistruths -- that we'll eventually go away.

Well it's been seven years and we're still here, still knocking on doors, still looking at circumstances, still analyzing pieces of evidence and still standing up to an institution that has no reason at all, not even for the sake of compassion, or doing the right thing, or being honest before the eyes of the Lord -- to tell the truth. Being truthful does not apply here. Protecting the abbey and school, and all its power, money and reputation is the name of the game.

And lost in it all are the victims, and Joshua Guimond...and possibly...others...

 

[concentric]

This whole thing reminds me in certain ways of the novel/movie: The Name of the Rose

Unfortunately, this is not fiction.

 

[concentric]

Yes, he is Mandy. If the band director was involved in Jacob's disappearance, and that's a big "if," I think it might be possible that he may have been in collusion with another person -- someone closely affiliated with the abbey. As Professor Immelman has pointed out -- three abductions (Jacob, Jared, Joshua-- the perp raped Jared but let him go) within such a close radius defies probability for it being a "coincidence."

I never read that Jared was raped, the words were "sexual assault." If it was rape, then there would definitely be DNA. If it was sexual assault, there still might be DNA, from skin cells? Even if pants or underwear were retained by the perp. I know this is difficult to talk about.

 

[concentric]

A lot of places you could hide things on that campus--one of the offending monks it seems had primary access to a cellar, for example.

Lots of people from all over the world with connections too.

 

[shergal]

A lot of places you could hide things on that campus--one of the offending monks it seems had primary access to a cellar, for example.

Lots of people from all over the world with connections too.

Not to mention they have their own cemetery and cremation is available.
http://www.saintjohnsabbeycemetery.org/index.html

I also found these recent obituaries of St. John's monks and priests (someone a few pages back was discussing maybe someone who died had confessed knowing something about Jacob) although this is just speculation.
http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/obituaries/index.html

 

[shergal]

"From what I discovered, reading online, is that the chairman of the Psychology Dept. resigned over sexual harassment/abuse allegations, etc. in 2003?" Some people on campus think this monk resembles the perp who took Jacob -- just "fyi."

There is so much hidden -- so very much -- that it will take nothing short of divine intervention to crack through the wall of deceit that surrounds the abbey.

But if we don't try -- if we just throw our hands up in the air and give up -- we will be doing exactly what they (sheriff, abbey, politicians, some people in the community) want us to do. To them, it's a stand off -- and since they have all the power, they believe that ultimately, if they just keep dodging the truth, casting aspersions on the Guimond family, questioning our credibility, answering honest questions with lies and mistruths -- that we'll eventually go away.

snipped

This may have been posted before, I haven't read way back on this section, but this is interesting:
"When Wollmering (priest at St. John's) died in February of 2009, his room in the monastery was reportedly sealed for two days and searched by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department has not released their findings. On Saturday, the Guimond family requested that the Sheriff’s Department’s findings be made public. Time will tell if they do the right thing."
from: http://perjuries.com/bbs/index.php?topic=4413.0

 

[concentric]

From what I discovered, reading online, is that the chairman of the Psychology Dept. resigned over sexual harassment/abuse allegations, etc. in 2003?
-------------------
Behind the Pine Curtain has photos of him. One photo shows him using a computer.

So in that search, I wondered what they found on the computer.

 

[shergal]

Found another blog with comments similar to our thoughts on Josh... http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=23

 

[human]

Found another blog with comments similar to our thoughts on Josh... http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=23

this article says monks that murder live there as well?!!!

 

[shergal]

this article says monks that murder live there as well?!!!

yes, I had never heard that before either! But it was admitted by the abbott himself evidently. Well, he does say "accusations" of rape and murder - but shouldn't they have had a regular trial then??

"Five years ago, in the wake of nationwide allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Abbey’s leader, Abbot John Klassen, publicly acknowledged that the Abbey restricts and oversees the lives of up to 15 monks who could pose a risk to the community due to sexual misconduct. The misconduct ranges from to accusations of rape and murder. Klassen defended criticism by noting that when the monks are living at the Abbey, “they are in our community, and the public doesn’ t have to worry about what is happening in the larger community,” Klassen told the St. Cloud Times."

 

[ThePhantom]

The abbey's idea of "supervision" is -- not the same as what one would think appropriate for sex offenders living outside the abbey walls -- but, the real problems here, in my opinion, stem from minimizing/denying/rationaling/justifying the crimes -- to covering up, lying and deceiving the public -- not just once, or twice, but over and over again. I think the public has become apathetic to it, as in, "well,that's just the way things are there." So -- they turn their heads away and become part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. And the beat goes on -- victims are still made to believe that somehow it's "their fault," that the priest "did not mean to do that." My bigger concern is, exactly what has been going on within the walls of that abbey that many know about but no one will speak of? Something deep, widespread, hidden --criminal, illegal, evil.

 

[concentric]

From the Jacob thread. The article referenced will give information on some of the crimes and accusations of murder.

What of the retreat cabin? How would anyone know who had been there and when, besides the multiple victims listed in the article, and still we don't know who was among the visitors. Seems pretty isolated. Could Jacob or Joshua have been taken there? Questions.

The cabin on Swenson Lake is owned by St. John’s Abbey as a place for vacations and retreats for the monks in the Benedictine monastery.

http://www.behindthepinecurtain.com/wordpress/?p=667

 

[Mandy113]

From the Jacob thread. The article referenced will give information on some of the crimes and accusations of murder.

I have no words after reading that article. I'm just sick. I grew up in a small town in Iowa, went to Catholic school from 1st to 12th grade. We treated the priests with such reverence, such respect ... it would be unthinkable this kind of abuse could occur.

I know not all priests or members of the religious community are sick, evil people. Hopefully, it's a very small percentage who are guilty of such crimes. What the Catholic Church has done to bury the abuses that took place is unconscionable. (sp) St John's Abbey ... how can those in authority even live with themselves? St John's looks like a cozy little retirement home for the accused. I realize that's a harsh & unfair statement but I'm so angry right now.

Something horrible happened to Josh. The answer lies within the community of St John's. Now that Jacob Wetterling's case has received new attention, maybe Josh's will too. We have to keep working on this. I don't know exactly what we can do but we have to keep trying. I'm also going to pray about it. While I may not have much respect left for the powers that be of the Catholic church, I do believe in God.