Clergy sexual abuse survivor: Bishop Cozzens had ‘immediate concern for my soul’

Gina Barthel received a response the same day she emailed Bishop Andrew Cozzens, explaining she was a victim of sexual abuse by a priest in New York and asking if he would be willing to meet with her.

He called, they found a time in January 2014 and they’ve been meeting once a month ever since. Conducted in a safe environment, their discussions have guided Barthel through anger, tears and trauma to drawing ever closer to Christ, particularly in eucharistic adoration.

“January will mark eight years,” Barthel said. “I thought we would meet once.”

Barthel knows Bishop Cozzens can’t do the same for every clergy abuse survivor. But whenever she told him of someone who needed help, even from outside the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he always said he would find a way to assist them, she said. As the eighth bishop of Crookston, she is certain that caring for victim-survivors of clergy abuse will be a strong aspect of his ministry.

“I believe he will put into place or provide means for people who can walk with people, who can support them. People who are competent and sensitive to the victims,” she said.

The Diocese of Crookston is going through its own struggles with past clergy sexual abuse. Bishop Cozzens is succeeding Bishop Michael Hoeppner, who led the diocese from 2007 until his resignation in April at the request of Pope Francis. The resignation followed a Vatican investigation into claims that he mishandled clergy sexual abuse allegations in the diocese.

Bishop Cozzens brings administrative experience as well as a pastoral heart to helping victims and the Church through what has been found to be sexual abuse by clergy around the world. He was ordained auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis in December 2013, just as a crisis erupted that led to the archdiocese going through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy from 2015 to 2018 that involved more than 450 clergy abuse claims and resulted in a $210 million settlement with victim-survivors.

A month after Bishop Cozzens was ordained bishop, he also became involved in an internal investigation of sexual misconduct against Archbishop John Nienstedt, who had been leading the archdiocese since 2008. Later calling that investigation “doomed to fail” because it was conducted internally and without its leaders having authority to act, Bishop Cozzens joined other U.S. prelates in calling for further reform of the Church. Ultimately, a structure to investigate bishops accused of wrongdoing was established worldwide through Pope Francis’ 2019 legislative document “Vos estis lux mundi.”

Barthel, 45, said she has seen Bishop Cozzens’ pastoral care in the midst of her crisis of faith.

“I knew he believed me,” Barthel said of first explaining to Bishop Cozzens what had happened to her. “But I also knew he had immediate concern for my soul and well-being. I felt heard and respected. You would have thought he had nothing else to do. That was very healing to me.”

It continues to be healing, Barthel said, as she recovers from her trauma.

“There are still times I am angry and tearful, but it’s not the same intensity as it was (in) the beginning,” she said. “I have moved from victim-survivor to thriver. Now, I am really thriving.”

Her need for Christ’s healing, her faith and love for the Church — but anger at it — has been mixed into the pain of sexual abuse, creating a complex and arduous process of recovery, she said.

“It takes someone who is very patient and experienced in the spiritual life to walk you through that,” said Barthel, who grew up in St. Michael parish in St. Michael, lived in nearby Albertville for a time as an adult but now lives in Elk River in the Diocese of St. Cloud. Bishop Cozzens continues to accompany her, she said.

Early in the morning that it became public Bishop Cozzens had been appointed to Crookston, she received a text from him asking her to call him, something he had never done before, Barthel said.

Dialing him up, she received the news and despite knowing things would be different, she was able to say, “Praise God, congratulations, I’m happy for you.”

“He said, ‘I wanted you to hear my voice and reassure you I am not abandoning you. It will look different because I am going to Crookston, but I will continue to walk with you,’” Barthel said.

Now, Bishop Cozzens’ spiritual direction will be via Zoom or telephone calls, or she will make the four-hour trip to Crookston, Barthel said. Bishop Cozzens pointed out, “‘It’s doable in a day,’” she said.

Meanwhile, Barthel plans to attend Bishop Cozzens’ installation Mass.

“I’ll be praying my heart out for him and the diocese,” she said. “I already am.”