by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Two civil lawsuits claiming sexual abuse have been filed against a St. John’s Abbey monk who had been cleared of previous allegations brought against him in 1991 and 2015.
Fr. Timothy Backous and St. John’s Abbey are both named in the lawsuits, which were filed in Stearns County. One of the lawsuits was filed by a man identified only as Doe 413, the other by a man known as Doe 188. The latter is a former member of the St. John’s Boys Choir who claims he was abused by Backous during a choir trip to Europe in 1990 when the boy was 12- or 13-years old.
The other lawsuit was filed on behalf of a former St. John’s Prep School student who was allegedly abused in the 1980s.
The lawsuits were announced April 28 at the law office of Jeff Anderson & Associates, an attorney well known for his prosecutions of priests alleged to have abused children.
The abbey issued a statement objecting to attorney Anderson’s claims the abbey had not been forthright in the accusations against Backous and other allegations and lawsuits against other monks.
The statement reads, in part: “Allegations are examined by independent investigators and submitted to an external review board for review. This process has been effective. Monks who had offended have been held accountable, and there has been no credible incident of sexual abuse of a minor by a monk of St. John’s in well over a quarter century.”
Backous served as headmaster of the St. John’s Prep School, as well as director of campus ministry and athletic director. He has also worked in Duluth and most recently as pastoral assistant at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
The parents of a boy allegedly abused by Backous during the European choir trip made allegations against him years ago. He was placed on temporary administrative leave pending an investigation. Last year, St. John’s Abbey announced the allegations were unsubstantiated after using the services of an independent, third-party investigator. It was the second time Backous had been cleared of allegations relating to the 1990 choir trip and other accusations.
The new allegation includes a report by a female chaperone on the choir trip who said she walked into a room and saw Backous lying on a bed with a boy while choir members were staying at Melk Monastery in Austria. She was one of the chaperones who was not contacted during the initial complaints against Backous.
In her statement to an investigator, the woman stated, “As a mother and grandmother, I am speaking about my experience now in an effort to protect children.”
The Rev. Timothy Backous
