Edit: Saint John's Boys' Choir has quite a long history. We reported earlier about the pederast Artistic Director, who was somewhat covered for by predator Father Anthony Ruff. Ruff is giving a Gregorian Chant Online Study. It took nearly a year for the Choir to discover if the accusations against Andre Louis Heywood are credible or are at least, "more likely than not." For his part, Ruff was inexplicably charged with being the one who announced the bad news, and also a point of contact for any others who might have been abused. There's no word whether Heywood will be arrested.
The Abbey and the University are seemingly doing all to disassociate themselves from Heywood. Even the mention of him in the newspaper omits his name. Being as he still appears on the Boys' Choir and University website in pictures, are they planning on shuffling him around after a stint sompelace? This long overdue dismissal comes not long after the dismissal of John Gagliardi's violent grandson from his coaching job where he was allegedly preying on at least one of his students.
Is there a tradition of sexual abuse in the Saint John's Boys' Choir? There certainly seems to be so as previous directors, Father Tim Backous (Who by his own admission loves going to Thailand) and Brother Paul Richards have demonstrated with multiple accusations against them. Richards founded the Boy's Choir. Richards was also a mouthpiece for the Modernist Monastery.
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| Predator Heywood With Boy's Choir |
Heywood is still listed as a current employee of Saint John's University.
Saint John's Boys' Choir is now headed by a female, Angela Klaverkamp. How will she carry one the tradition of this vehicle for sexual deviancy and victimization?
The Saint Cloud Times story is as follows. Could they be any more timorous?:
ST. JOSEPH — An unnamed person is no longer involved with the St. John's Boys Choirs after the organization determined allegations of sexual misconduct against minors were "more likely than not."
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office would not comment Friday about the case except to say its investigation was still active.
St. John's University, of [sic] which the choir is affiliated, issued a statement Friday about its own investigation conducted with the National Catholic Youth Choir. This investigation determined "it is more likely than not that the individual engaged in the alleged sexual misconduct involving minors, including engaging in communications and sending, soliciting and possessing photos of a sexual nature," the statement said.
According to the statement, the adult is "no longer with either organization."
The report of misconduct came from a minor in the summer of 2019.
The organizations have communicated with current and past choir participants to identify potential victims and offer support, the statement said.
"The safety and well-being of the Choirs' participants is at the forefront of the Choirs' mission and programming," the statement said.
AMDG
