by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
A deceased Catholic cleric, Fr. Othmar Hohmann, who was accused of the sexual abuse of a girl more than 50 years ago is the subject of a lawsuit filed Jan. 13 in Stearns County Court.
The suit, seeking a judgment of $50,000, names as defendants the Diocese of St. Cloud, St. John’s Abbey and the St. Joseph Parish.
The teenaged girl allegedly abused is now an adult, known in the lawsuit as “Doe 115.” The abuse, according to the lawsuit, occurred multiple times between 1961 and 1966 when Hohmann was a pastor at the Church of St. Joseph. She was between the ages of 11-16 when the abuse allegedly happened.
The lawsuit was announced Jan. 13 during a press conference at the law firm of Bryant, Bradshaw and Bryant in Waite Park. Attorney Michael Bryant of that law firm is working in conjunction with attorney Jeff Anderson of Jeff Anderson and Associates in the Twin Cities. Anderson has brought many lawsuits against clergy charged with the sexual abuse of children, including many clergy in central Minnesota and St. John’s Abbey.
Hohmann was ordained at St. John’s Abbey in 1931. He died Jan. 24, 1980. During his long career as a clergyman, he served in more than one dozen parishes, including St. Joseph, Cold Spring, Crookston and places in North Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and the Bahamas.
Extensive records made available on the Jeff Anderson and Associates website show Hohmann was accused of other instances of sexual abuse at various places.
More files released
Hohmann’s records were among many others released Jan. 19 by St. John’s Abbey as the result of a settlement stemming from a clergy-abuse lawsuit filed last year.
The extensive personnel files released include those of 18 clergy who had been the subject of “credible” claims of sexual abuse against minors. The names and files include those of nine monks who are deceased, seven monks who live at St. John’s Abbey under security restrictions and two monks who have left the abbey. Included in the files are personal letters, medical records, legal documents and other papers dealing with virtually every aspect of each monk’s life. St. John’s Abbey released a statement stating it is hoped the files will help survivors of abuse. The statement also says that, while not wishing to minimize the harm done to victims, that at St. John’s Abbey no incident of abuse to a minor has been verified by a St. John’s Abbey monk in more than two decades and that the abbey has taken specific and effective actions to halt and to prevent abuse.
The newly released files have been given to the Jeff Anderson and Associates law firm, which plans to publish them on its website.
The names
The names of the monks whose files have been released are these, including their current status:
Andre Bennett (restricted as of 2002. Died in 2007).
Michael Bik (removed from public ministry in 2002).
Robert Blumeyer (died in 1983).
Cosmas Dahlheimer (removed from public ministry in 1993. Died in 2004).
Richard Eckroth (removed from public ministry in 1994. Died in 2015).
Thomas Gillespie (removed from public ministry in 2002. No longer a member of the monastery).
Francis Hoefgen (removed from public ministry in 2002. No longer a member of the monastery).
Othmar Hohmann (died in 1980).
Dominic Keller (died in 1978).
John Kelly (on restriction as of 2001. No longer a member of the monastery).
Brennan Maiers (removed from public ministry by 2002).
Finian McDonald (removed from public ministry by 2001).
Dunstan Moorse (removed from public ministry in 1991).
James Phillips (on restriction as of 2002).
Franciso Schulte (removed from public ministry).
Allen Tarlton (removed from public ministry).
Pirmin Wendt (died in 1982).
Bruce Wollmering (removed from public ministry in 2003. Died in 2009).
Help available
On the St. John’s Abbey’s Minnesota Transparency Project website, it lists the following ways that victims of clergy abuse can seek help:
- Contact St. John’s Abbey Abbot John Klassen or an authorized survivor advocate.
- Go to the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, which has been engaged by St. John’s Abbey to assist anyone who may have been abused by a monk of the abbey. For more information, contact Gary Schoener or Dr. James Ayers, clinic director, at 612-870-0565 or 870-0574. Ayers can also be contacted via email at jayers@walkin.org.
- The victim-assistance coordinator for the St. Cloud Diocese is Roxann Storms. Her telephone number is 320-248-1563.
- The website of the Minnesota Transparency Project is: www.mntransparencyinitiative.com.
Fr. Othmar Hohmann, deceased 1980.
