Monster in Our Midst (Wolf in Sheep's Clothing)
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by Emily Gurnon *
St. Paul Pioneer Press (8/11/2014)
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Years ago, he was a young Minnesota priest -- and alleged rapist.
The Rev. Kenneth LaVan began sexually abusing girls with his first parish assignment in the 1960s and later threatened to burn down a woman's house and have her husband killed -- yet he was not removed from active ministry in the Twin Cities until last year, according to court and internal church records.
The Rev. Kevin McDonough told then-Archbishop Harry Flynn of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2005 that while he knew of LaVan's "boundary violations with adult females, I had forgotten that there were two allegations in the late 1980s concerning sexual involvement with teenaged girls."
There were "significant doubts" about the girls' stories, however, McDonough told Flynn.
Nevertheless, he raised the possibility of "reopening an investigation into these old matters." Flynn said that wasn't necessary.
[....]
An early allegation against LaVan was by a girl who said the priest raped her when she was 14 or 15 at the Church of St. Raphael in Crystal, where he served from 1965 to 1970.
Psychologist Gary Schoener was hired by the archdiocese to examine LaVan. He also evaluated the girl's account and that of another teenager, who said LaVan kissed her "passionately," backed her up against a wall and fondled her. The abuse began when she was between the sixth and seventh grade, she said.
[....]
LaVan denied "anything close to" a rape, though Schoener said he believed LaVan was minimizing events with both girls.
"The alternative -- that these stories are fabrications -- seems extraordinarily unlikely," Schoener wrote. Putting him back in a pastoral or counseling role, he said, would be "very risky."
[....]
Schoener's examination of LaVan followed reports of his involvement with several women.
Among them, an adult parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lake St. Croix Beach, where LaVan was assigned from 1983 to 1985, told Bishop Robert Carlson that LaVan "became very upset" when she ended a sexual relationship between them.
LaVan harassed her family, "frequently went up and down in front of their house and surprised (her) on the beach," according to a 1985 memo from Carlson to then-Archbishop John Roach. The woman's husband confronted him and told him to leave them alone.
[....]
When she continued to rebuff him, LaVan "mentioned a threat about possibly burning down the house ... 'or have your husband murdered, but I am not that kind of person,' " Carlson quoted LaVan as saying.
[....]
In all, LaVan was accused of sexually abusing at least three girls and several women. One had previously suffered a brain injury and was under psychiatric care at the time of the abuse, which church officials recognized as making her particularly vulnerable.
He was removed from ministry in December 2013 only after media scrutiny on the mishandling of sexual abuse by priests in the archdiocese. The archdiocese [finally!] disclosed his name as an abuser in February 2014.
[LaVan, 81, now lives in Oakdale.]
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*Source: (excerpted from)- http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26315413/twin-cities-priest-accused-sex-abuse-job-until?source=email
