Suit Claims Bishop Tried To Coerce Withdrawal of Clergy Abuse Charge

A suit was filed this week in a Minnesota state trial court against the Catholic Diocese of Crookston and its Bishop Michael Hoeppner.  The complaint (full text) in Vasek v. Diocese of Crookston, (MN Dist. Ct., filed 5/8/2017) alleges that plaintiff, who was studying to be a deacon, was told by Bishop Hoeppner that he must withdraw his previous charges of decades-old sexual abuse that he had previously made against an Ohio priest.  Hoeppner allegedly told plaintiff that if he did not, "the Bishop would have difficulty ordaining Plaintiff as a deacon for the Diocese of Crookston and that Plaintiff s son's priesthood in the Diocese of Crookston would be negatively impacted." Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on the lawsuit.