MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A former priest at one of the oldest and wealthiest parishes in St. Paul, Minn., has been arrested and charged with sexual criminal conduct, authorities said.
The Rev. Christopher Wenthe, 46, currently the pastor of St. Peter's and St. Joseph's parishes in Delano, Minn., was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported.
While second-in-charge at Nativity Church in St. Paul in 2005, Wenthe allegedly engaged in repeated sexual misconduct with a young woman who had come to him for guidance, prosecutors said.
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis spokesman Dennis McGrath said the archdiocese learned of the matter in September 2005 and the young woman was offered counseling and therapy. In a written statement, McGrath said she was told she could go to police "but chose not to do so (then)."
The woman wrote to "a high-ranking member" of the archdiocese about the alleged abuse in October 2006. Now 29, she said she had been sexually abused as a child and alleged Wenthe abused between Nov. 1, 2003, and Feb. 28, 2005, the newspaper reported Thursday.
The complaint said she converted to Catholicism in 2003 and at her first confession Wenthe led her to a private sitting room next to his rectory bedroom.
A subsequent confession led to his embrace, the complaint said.
"Immediately the situation became inappropriate," and the priest asked her to perform oral sex.
"I remember pleading with him that we should stop," the letter said. "He made me feel like I had done this to him and that I was obligated to finish the job. After I complied, he turned from me, trembling and crying, repeating over and over that we were going to hell and his priesthood was over; that God could never forgive this, then he apologized."
