MINNEAPOLIS — Bishop Michael Hoeppner of the Crookston Diocese resigned Tuesday after a request to step down by Pope Francis and an investigation that showed he had covered up a sex abuse allegation against a priest.
Hoeppner is the first U.S. bishop to be disciplined under new Vatican protocols for reviewing and sanctioning bishops for sex abuse or cover-ups. The 2019 guidelines were put in place to enforce greater bishop accountability when there are reports of abuse for clergy under their supervision.
Hoeppner, 71, was accused of pressuring a former deacon candidate to recant his statement that he was sexually abused as a teen by a diocese priest, the Monsignor Roger Grundhaus. Grundhaus has denied the abuse and Hoeppner has denied he tried to cover up the abuse claim.
The Vatican authorized an investigation into Hoeppner in 2019 for "acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct."
St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda supervised the initial investigations, which were forwarded to the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican. The final of three reports, containing 1,533 pages of documentations, was submitted early this year, the archdiocese said.
The victims' rights organization, the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, or SNAP, said it was satisfied with the resignation but would have preferred if the Vatican had fired Hoeppner.
"We are glad that one less diocese in the U.S. is led by a prelate who put their reputation over the protection of children," wrote SNAP Executive Director Zach Hiner, in a statement released Tuesday.
Hoeppner allegedly pressured deacon candidate Ron Vasek not to mention a sex abuse allegation he had made against Grundhaus, even coercing Vasek to sign a diocese-written letter indicating the abuse did not happen. Vasek filed a lawsuit against the diocese in 2017.
The Rev. Richard E. Pates, Bishop Emeritus of the Des Moines Diocese, will assume the duties of bishop until a new bishop is designated, the Crookston Diocese said in news release.
The Crookston diocese, in northwestern Minnesota, is home to about 35,000 Catholics.
