Joseph Wajda, who since 2003 has been banned from exercising public priestly ministry because of allegations of sexual abuse of minors, has been laicized, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in an Oct. 1 statement.

Wajda, 69, “may not dress or present himself as a priest and is forbidden from the ordinary exercise of all sacred ministry, private as well as public,” the statement said.
Ordained in 1973, Wajda had served at St. Raphael in Crystal, Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, St. Rose of Lima in Roseville, St. Joseph in Waconia,
Sts. Peter and Paul in Loretto, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Minneapolis, St. Andrew in St. Paul and Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul. His last assignment was in 2002 at the Metropolitan Tribunal.

Archbishop Hebda said he strongly encourages anyone who has been abused to contact police.