The director of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment responded to recent criticism from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests over the outcome of an investigation of a priest accused of mishandling the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts between 1995 and 2013.

“I have to respect and honor our fact-based process and the determination made by our (Ministerial Review) Board after careful consideration of the evidence,” Tim O’Malley, archdiocesan director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, said in a Jan. 19 letter to two SNAP leaders. “I have no question in my heart that the Archdiocese has taken this matter very seriously, has done the very best review possible and permitted lay people with the right personal and professional backgrounds, skills and judgment to consider the matter and influence the outcome.”

O’Malley announced June 3, 2021, that a group of lay experts had completed an internal, four-year investigation into Father Kevin McDonough’s work, and the archdiocese’s Ministerial Review Board had concluded that “Father McDonough had not always demonstrated sufficiently sound judgment in handling allegations of ministerial misconduct or in attending to his duties to prevent harm and create safer environments” and that “Father McDonough failed, albeit not intentionally, to adequately keep children safe.”

At the conclusion of the investigative and MRB review process, the Board recommended that Father McDonough be permitted to engage in certain duties, such as continuing as pastor of Incarnation in Minneapolis, and be barred from others. Archbishop Hebda accepted the board’s recommendation.

Zach Hiner, SNAP’s national executive director, and Frank Meuers, SNAP’s Minnesota chapter director, wrote separate letters to Archbishop Hebda Jan. 5 stating their dissatisfaction with the fact that after completion of the archdiocesan investigation, Father McDonough is still permitted to engage in ministry.

“The investigation into Fr. McDonough revealed more than enough to demonstrate that he was unfit for his leadership positions,” Hiner wrote. “More to the point, it is clear from the probe that there was a pattern in Fr. McDonough’s actions — under his authority as a representative of the Bishop, he transferred away dangerous perpetrators, despite knowing full well that they were abusers, and therefore put other children throughout your diocese at risk. To us, these actions show Fr. McDonough as an active participant in ongoing cover-up, not merely someone who ‘had not always demonstrated sufficiently sound judgement’ as you wrote in your statement.”

He continued: “Put frankly, we feel that the results of your investigation should have been more than enough to ensure that Fr. McDonough was never given authority over anything more important than a mop bucket again. Instead, your milquetoast response to his crimes appears to be little more than a slap on the wrist. This response is embarrassing and insulting, not only to victims and survivors, but to anyone who cares about responsibility and the protection of children.”

In his letter to Archbishop Hebda, Meuers stated that SNAP members are “extremely uncomfortable, unsatisfied, and dare we say, offended with the outcome” of the investigation.

Meuers wrote “this was not a simple accidental overlooking of a task or two, but a deliberate, long-term pattern of using his office as the representative of the bishop to transfer men who were known to him to be sexually abusing children, from one parish to another without any attempt to hold these perpetrators, or himself, accountable. … Because we find these behaviors to be egregious, the statement by the diocese assuring people that these were acts that he didn’t know were causing harm is a slap in the face for the victim/survivors and faithful alike.”

Father Kevin McDonough oversaw the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts, including allegations of clergy sexual abuse, for 18 years, beginning in 1995 when he was the archdiocese’s vicar general and moderator of the curia. He held that role until 2008, and then led the archdiocese’s Office for Protection of Children until 2013.

In October 2013, St. Paul Police began an investigation into the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts, including allegations that Father McDonough mishandled clergy abuse allegations and victim-assistance efforts, especially in the case of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who was convicted of sexually abusing three brothers while ministering at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul from 2006 to 2012. That investigation led the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office to file criminal and civil charges against the archdiocese, which were later resolved. Father McDonough was named in the RCAO complaint but no individual was charged in the RCAO investigation.

A former judge and Minnesota law enforcement leader, O’Malley joined the archdiocese’s leadership in 2014 to overhaul its safe environment efforts. In his Jan. 19 response to SNAP leaders, he emphasized the investigation’s thoroughness, both in information gathered and people — including SNAP members — interviewed. He also highlighted the expertise of MRB members, which include a clergy abuse victim-survivor and people whose family members have been abused, and people who have worked with victims of crimes, as well as judges, psychologists, clergy and a member of a religious community.

“These are exactly the kind (of) people we all want to help assess a priest’s fitness for ministry,” O’Malley wrote. “But, they are also objective and make decisions based on evidence.”

O’Malley reiterated that “a comprehensive investigation of Father McDonough’s role in the Archdiocesan sexual abuse crisis” was conducted by lay experts, including a former St. Paul Police Department investigator and former commander of the Interstate Crimes Against Children Task Force, who now works for the Archdiocesan Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

The six-person investigation team “examined thousands of pages of memoranda, emails, letters, depositions, policies, statements, publications, police reports and court filings,” and interviewed 16 witnesses, O’Malley wrote. “In addition to the matters identified by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office involving Father, we also spoke with numerous individuals, including members of SNAP, to obtain relevant information.”

During the investigation, the MRB was “kept fully informed” and its members “offered advice and guidance to the investigation along the way,” he said. “The board had access to the entire investigation and conducted an exhaustive review over a series of many meetings.”

O’Malley also emphasized that Father McDonough was interviewed and appeared before the MRB, where he “was asked questions and given the opportunity to explain his conduct.”

Although the investigation did not result in an obvious change of status for the priest, “at the end of the process, the outcome was not kept secret, but rather it was made public,” O’Malley said. “As a result, the determination that Father McDonough had failed in important aspects of his role in the Archdiocese received extensive media coverage.”

That media coverage included a top-of-page-one headline in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“I appreciate that you — and others — have come to a different conclusion about Father McDonough than did the Board,” O’Malley wrote to Hiner and Meuers. “The result of that process may not be the one you think appropriate, but it has resulted in meaningful progress as well as serious and public ramifications.”

O’Malley concluded the letter noting his respect for SNAP’s work, adding, “we benefit from the dialogue we have regularly with SNAP here in Minnesota.”

“It has helped make us better at carrying out the important mission that you, I and so many others share,” he said.

SNAP CORRESPONDENCE

The text of the letters in full are reprinted below.

Dear Archbishop Hebda:

I am writing to you from the national office of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Our local volunteer in Minneapolis has brought to my attention a serious issue within your diocese and I write today to echo his calls that you must do more regarding Fr. Kevin McDonough.

The investigation into Fr. McDonough revealed more than enough to demonstrate that he was unfit for his leadership positions. More to the point, it is clear from the probe that there was a pattern in Fr. McDonough’s actions – under his authority as a representative of the Bishop, he transferred away dangerous perpetrators, despite knowing full well that they were abusers, and therefore put other children throughout your diocese at risk. To us, these actions show Fr. McDonough as an active participant in ongoing cover-up, not merely someone who had “had not always demonstrated sufficiently sound judgment” as you wrote in your statement.

Put frankly, we feel that the results of your investigation should have been more than enough to ensure that Fr. McDonough was never given authority over anything more important than a mop bucket again. Instead, your milquetoast response to his crimes appears to be little more than a slap on the wrist. This response is embarrassing and insulting, not only to victims and survivors, but to anyone who cares about responsibility and the protection of children.

I am disturbed that someone who actively put children in harm’s way and transferred abusive priests is not held to account. To us, this response is a signal that church leaders like yourself still do not understand the depth and seriousness of clergy sexual abuse.

Sincerely,

Zach Hiner
Executive Director, SNAP

Dear Bishop Hebda,

As a new year arrives, it is with great consternation and more than a little reflection we feel the duty to call to your attention, once again, that we are extremely uncomfortable, unsatisfied, and dare we say, offended with the outcome of the four year investigation into the job performance of Kevin McDonough.

The MRB met repeatedly, interviewed thirteen persons, and compiled over one thousand pages of testimony, and the findings, in our opinion, clearly showed that Kevin’s performance in the position that he occupied for a quarter century was far less than optimal. Even more than that, however, is that this was not a simple accidental overlooking of a task or two, but a deliberate, long term pattern of using his office as the representative of the bishop to transfer men who were known to him to be sexually abusing children, from one parish to another without any attempt to hold these perpetrators, or himself, accountable. This refusal to call out and hold accountable persons who were committing felony behaviors, makes him a de-facto participant in the outcomes of these behaviors, the raping of children for the pleasure of an ordained person. He consistently placed sheltering the church from unwanted attention above the needs of our children to feel safe with the very persons that we were taught represented the presence of Christ on earth.

Because we find these behaviors to be egregious, the statement by the diocese assuring people that these were acts that he didn’t know were causing harm is a slap in the face for victim/survivors and faithful alike.

Therefore we ask that you review this case and assign a penalty more in accordance with the serious nature of these long term offenses. Removal from his pastorship would not be too strong a request.

Sincerely,

Frank Meuers
MN SNAP Director

Executive Director Hiner and Minnesota Chapter Director Meuers:

I write in response to your January 5, 2022 letters to Archbishop Hebda regarding the Fr. McDonough investigation. In my role at the archdiocese, I have authority over such matters and, in particular, was responsible for this investigation.

First, thank you for writing to express your concerns regarding the investigation and the resulting decisions. I believe I understand and am certain I appreciate your sincere and heartfelt views regarding Fr. McDonough’s tenure.

For more than seven years now, we have worked very deliberately to establish a process that is fair to all, and properly and justly holds people accountable. Those involved in the process, including our Ministerial Review Board as well as lay experts, are skilled and informed. Review Board Members include individuals who have worked professionally and personally with victims of crimes, a victim of abuse by a priest, individuals whose family members have been abused (including by clergy), judges, psychologists, clergy and a religious person. They represent a cross-section of the community and all share a fervent desire to help keep children safe. They are exactly the kind people we all want to help assess a priest’s fitness for ministry.

But, they are also objective and make decisions based on evidence. As described in our June 3, 2021 public statement, a comprehensive investigation of Father McDonough’s role in the Archdiocesan sexual abuse crisis was conducted by lay experts. The investigation was conducted with the assistance of a former St. Paul Police Department investigator and former Commander of the Interstate Crimes Against Children Task Force now working for the Archdiocesan Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe

Environment. He and his team examined thousands of pages of memoranda, emails, letters, depositions, policies, statements, publications, police reports and court filings. He also interviewed sixteen witnesses. He was assisted by 5 other seasoned, lay investigators. Combined, the team has over 180 years of criminal investigative experience, including at the local, state and federal government levels. In addition to the matters identified by the Ramsey

County Attorney’s Office involving Father, we also spoke with numerous individuals, including members of SNAP, to obtain relevant information.

The Archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board was kept fully informed throughout the investigative process and offered advice and guidance to the investigation along the way. The Board had access to the entire investigation and conducted an exhaustive review over a series of many meetings. As you would expect, Father McDonough was also interviewed. He appeared before the Board and was asked questions and given the opportunity to explain his conduct. At the conclusion of that process, the Board recommended that Father McDonough be permitted to engage in certain duties and be barred from others. The Board’s recommendation was accepted by the

Archbishop. And, at the end of the process, the outcome was not kept secret, but rather it was made public. As a result, the determination that Father McDonough had failed in important aspects of his role in the Archdiocese received extensive media coverage.

I appreciate that you — and others — have come to a different conclusion about Father McDonough than did the Board. But, I have to respect and honor our fact-based process and the determination made by the Board after careful consideration of the evidence. I have no question in my heart that the Archdiocese has taken this matter very seriously, has done the very best review possible and permitted lay people with the right personal and professional backgrounds, skills and judgment to consider the matter and influence the outcome. The result of that process may not be the one you think appropriate, but it has resulted in meaningful progress as well as serious and public ramifications.

I respect the work of SNAP, and we benefit from the dialogue we have regularly with SNAP here in Minnesota. It has helped make us better at carrying out the important mission that you, I and so many others share.

I wish you well.

Best regards,

Timothy O’Malley, Director