Statement Regarding Rev. Gerald Dvorak - Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Today, Rev. Gerald Dvorak returns to public ministry as the pastor of the Church of Saint Peter in Richfield.

In May of this year, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received an allegation that the Rev. Dvorak, pastor of St. Peter in Richfield, sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. In accordance with Archdiocesan protocols, the allegation was treated as credible pending an investigation. The definition of "credible" in this context means "not manifestly false or frivolous."  The use of the term was neither a presumption nor a determination of guilt.

Law enforcement was notified and authorized the Archdiocese to conduct an investigation of the allegation. Rev. Dvorak took a voluntary leave of absence pending the outcome of that investigation. Upon completion of the Archdiocesan investigation, law enforcement was notified of the results of the investigation and the decision to reinstate Father Dvorak.

Statement Regarding Rev. Gerald Dvorak - Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

See also:  Priest may return to ministry after allegation 'not substantiated'  

Minneapolis police spokesperson John Elder said Wednesday that police did not investigate because the alleged victim did not contact police. Instead, a police commander told an official at the archdiocese to "look into it" and asked the archdiocesan official to tell the alleged victim "that we would like to speak to him or her," Elder said.

Elder said it's not possible for police to investigate a sex abuse claim unless a victim contacts police. "We had asked for this victim to come forward and victims to come forward a number of times, and if the victim chooses not to engage the police in any manner, we don't have a victim," he said.

Lawyer: Twin Cities archdiocese may have destroyed porn videos | Star Tribune

Church officials in St. Paul and the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., may have destroyed evidence that a St. Paul priest possessed child pornography, a St. Paul attorney charged Thursday.

Church documents released at a news conference describe how the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as the Vatican’s top official in Washington, feared a scandal in the case of the Rev. Donald Dummer. The St. Paul priest was accused of possessing pornographic videos when he was at St. Mary’s Parish in the late 1990s.

Dummer, 77, was added by the archdiocese to a list of priests with credible accusations of sexual misconduct.

[,,,]
They include a copy of a January 2002 letter indicating that in early 1997, a part-time employee at St. Mary’s came across a number of VCR movies in Dummer’s room. The employee was “shocked” by one of the videos, which depicted 10- to 12-year-old boys playing basketball in the nude.

The employee called the archbishop’s office, according to documents, and was referred to then-Vicar General Kevin McDonough. The letter said the employee found more videos depicting child pornography in Dummer’s room in early 1998 and delivered them to McDonough’s secretary.

Other documents include correspondence between the Vatican embassy and local church officials discussing allegedly pornographic videotapes that were turned in by an employee at St. Mary’s.

McDonough, the archdiocese’s point person for clergy abuse complaints, destroyed the tapes, according to a document prepared by an employee at St. Mary’s.

Lawyer: Twin Cities archdiocese may have destroyed porn videos | Star Tribune