Archdiocese: Priest returned to ministry following sexual misconduct review

Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Chancery
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Offices across the street from the Cathedral.
Amanda Snyder / MPR News, File

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has returned a priest to active ministry following a review of sexual misconduct, according to a statement released Tuesday by the archdiocese.

In November, the Rev. David Barrett went on leave as assistant pastor of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, Minn., for what the archdiocese described as sexual misconduct not involving minors that took place more than a decade ago.

Archbishop John Nienstedt will require Barrett to comply with "continued monitoring by a representative of the archdiocese, continued ongoing medical treatment and therapy as determined to be necessary by a medical professional, living in community with at least one other priest to avoid social isolation, and appropriate disclosure of his past misconduct to the pastor, trustees, and parishioners of the parish he returns to serve," according to the statement.

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Barrett went on leave years earlier for the same misconduct and had returned to ministry in 2005, it said.

A spokesman for the archdiocese declined to provide further information. Barrett declined an interview request.

The archdiocese's Ministerial Standards Board reviewed Barrett's misconduct before his return this week. The review included reports from a licensed psychologist and other experts, as well as an interview with Barrett, the archdiocese said.

Four other priests - the Rev. Joseph Gallatin, the Rev. Michael Keating, the Rev. Paul Moudry and the Rev. Mark Wehmann -- remain on leave.

Gallatin, the pastor of the Church of St. Peter in Mendota, has been on leave since late December for what the archdiocese called "a single incident of inappropriate conduct with a minor many years ago involving a boundary violation."

Keating, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas, went on leave in October following allegations that he sexually abused an underage girl. An investigation launched in the fall by the University of St. Thomas has not yet been completed, according to University of St. Thomas spokesman Jim Winterer.

Moudry, pastor of Church of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley, went on a leave of absence in November for misconduct that "occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Fr. Moudry has served," the archdiocese said in a Nov. 3 statement.

Wehmann, the pastor of St. Boniface in Minneapolis, went on leave in late December for "several incidents of inappropriate conduct with minors involving boundary violations," the archdiocese said in a Dec. 29 statement. Wehmann "will remain a pastor but will not be performing any public ministry until a final review is complete," it said.