A longtime retreat house director’s faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have been removed, according to Archbishop Bernard Hebda.
In a statement shared recently with the retreat community affiliated with the Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House near Lake Elmo, Archbishop Hebda said that he had accepted the recommendation of the archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board that Jesuit Father Patrick McCorkell not return to ministry at this time in the archdiocese. The recommendation followed an investigation into a sexual misconduct allegation against Father McCorkell involving an adult woman raised last May.
At that time, in accordance with archdiocesan policy, Father McCorkell’s faculties to engage in ministry in the archdiocese were temporarily removed, pending the results of an archdiocesan investigation and review process.
According to the archbishop’s statement, the archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment conducted an investigation and presented its findings to the Ministerial Review Board, which advises the archbishop on matters of clergy misconduct. Father McCorkell participated in the investigation and provided his account to the MRB.
“The MRB found that Father McCorkell’s conduct violated the Code of Conduct for Clergy and recommended that he not be permitted to engage in public ministry in the Archdiocese at this time,” Archbishop Hebda said in the statement. “I have accepted their recommendations and determined that Father McCorkell shall not be permitted at this time to return to any public ministry in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. In the event that a request would be made in the future for Father McCorkell to reengage in public ministry in the Archdiocese, his suitability would be reconsidered at that time and in accordance with Archdiocesan policies and procedures.”
Ordained in 1974, Father McCorkell had served as the director of the Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House since 2003. The retreat center holds nearly 50 silent retreats for men annually.
