Twin Cities area priest called 'evil' by man who committed suicide

Editor: Fr. Baer was always a company man, even when the company was poor or less than savory. A seminarian known to the editor once had a spate of enthusiasm and foolishly decided to show the seminary rector, Father Baer, a draft he'd made for something he was excited about.  So Father Baer published the seminarian's building plan for a new seminary on a communal bulletin and attached a note which said, "someone has too much time on their hands".  Whatever you think of someone's ideas, you don't ridicule them in a public forum, especially when they were given in confidence. It's behavior reminiscent of those insecure clerics who have too much authority on their hands. Perhaps Fr. Baer is one of those guys...  But yes, Fr. Baer was always a company man, hailed by some as an improvement.  We were always skeptical of him; a bit too soft.  In any event, St. Paul Seminary is still ordaining males with deep seated homosexual inclinations.  That's really what the problem is here. Fr. Baer is another legacy of the Old Liberal administration of Archbishop Flynn and the ballyhooed Irish Episcopacy which has been the bane of American Catholicism for a century and a half.

By ROSE FRENCH, Star Tribune

Last update: February 9, 2011 - 10:00 PM

EA man who shot himself in front of a Kentucky church posted sex abuse accusations involving Catholic clergy on Facebook just before taking his life and referred to a Twin Cities area priest as an "evil man."
David M. Jarboe Jr., 23, singled out the Rev. William Baer, who was rector of St. John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul when Jarboe was there for three semesters between 2006-08. Baer, 53, is now pastor at Transfiguration Church in Oakdale.

St. Thomas spokesman Jim Winterer said neither the seminary nor the Twin Cities archdiocese has ever received complaints about Baer.

The Facebook post was removed shortly after Jarboe's body was found in front of an Owensboro, Ky., Catholic church on Thursday. But several Kentucky media outlets have quoted excerpts of Jarboe's post, which criticized the Catholic Church's response to clergy sex abuse.

Jarboe did not accuse any priest by name but wrote that abuse in the church is "real" and that he hoped to "save at least one child from the pain and torment that I had to go through," the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

Winterer confirmed that Baer was named in the note and said the priest was taken aback. Winterer said that Baer is not speaking to the media but that he is "very saddened" by Jarboe's death. Baer left the St. Thomas seminary in spring 2010 after serving there nearly 11 years.

"He does not know what motivated David's criticism," Winterer said. "He had positive conversations with David after he left the seminary."

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Owensboro has launched an investigation into Jarboe's post, according to a diocesan press release. Police are looking into Jarboe's death. The Twin Cities archdiocese and the seminary do not plan to investigate.

When reached by phone in Kentucky on Tuesday, Jarboe's mother, Karen, declined to talk about her son.

H/t: Stella Borealis.