Last year, a Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was charged with “sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening a woman to whom he had given spiritual guidance.” A woman said Father Joseph Herzing had counseled her over a period of several years beginning in 2018, and that relationship soon turned sexual… and violent.
Setting aside the horrific details of the allegations, Herzing was a priest. He was supposed to be celibate. He was in a position of power over a woman he was guiding. Even if everything had been consensual—and the allegations said they were not—it would have been unethical and potentially criminal.
Last year, a different Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was also charged with sexually abusing a woman. A woman accused Father Aaron Kuhn of assaulting her repeatedly over the course of three years when he was providing her with spiritual advice.
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