The monastic community of St. John's Abbey on Tuesday selected a longtime educational leader as the 11th abbot of the central Minnesota Benedictine monastery.
The monks elected the Rev. Douglas Mullin to serve in the role left vacant by the Rev. John Klassen, who recently resigned ahead of his 75th birthday, which he was required to do.
Klassen, who led the abbey for 23 years, was the face of the organization as it reckoned with rampant sexual abuse by nearly two dozen monks that was kept hidden for years.
The abbey has faced dozens of lawsuits following multiple accusations of sex abuse by monks in the past few decades. 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, with four who still live on campus.
Mullin is not on that list. But he was the subject of court proceedings in 2016 following allegations of abuse. That spring, the abbey filed seven lawsuits in district court on behalf of plaintiffs who submitted abuse complaints in the final weeks of the window created by the Minnesota Child Victims Act.
One of the complaints alleged Mullin had "unpermitted sexual contact" with a minor in 1993 when he was the dean of students at St. John's Preparatory School.
"Mullin adamantly denies the allegation," the abbey said at the time. "St. John's Abbey has full confidence in Mullin's denial and, by filing the complaint in court — at Mullin's request — is seeking to restore his good name."
The case was dismissed in June 2017.
