St. John's Abbey, long the subject of sex abuse allegations, opened up its clergy files to public scrutiny for the first time on Tuesday. The files were immediately labeled incomplete by victims' advocates.
The abbey in Collegeville, Minn., released its personnel files on 18 monks credibly accused of sexually abusing minors as part of a legal settlement reached by a St. Cloud man who said he was abused by a monk as a St. John's Preparatory School student in 1977.
Although the files went online at mntransparencyinitiative.com Tuesday, the abbey's website made no mention of the historic revelations by the day's end.
There are up to 1,000 pages of documents on each monk, including hundreds of pages of routine correspondence, medical reports and updates on monks' assignments. But the files also include correspondence pointing to what the abbey knew about the monks' behavior and how it was addressed.
The accused monks worked as teachers, counselors, parish priests and chaplains across Minnesota and beyond. The files show how they were transferred to other religious work even though the abbey was aware of sexual improprieties.
Seven still live at the abbey, under "safety plans," on a campus shared with St. John's University.
"The files share heartbreaking and tragic details of suffering inflicted on survivors of misconduct," wrote Abbot John Klassen in a media statement. "We in the monastic community grieve the pain and suffering of those who have been harmed."
But Patrick Marker, a former St. John's Prep student who has long run a website documenting alleged sexual misconduct at the abbey, said the list is incomplete.