5 Takeaways From Our Investigation on Sexual Abuse Inside a Minnesota Outdated Apostolic Lutheran Church — ProPublica

Our investigation of a little-known church neighborhood in northeastern Minnesota began with one thing that has turn into depressingly acquainted: little one intercourse abuse.

ProPublica and the Minnesota Star Tribune discovered that some members of the Outdated Apostolic Lutheran Church neighborhood in Duluth enabled Clint Massie, who pleaded responsible to sexually abusing younger ladies. Massie is at the moment in jail in Faribault, Minnesota.

The Outdated Apostolic Lutheran Church — which has no affiliation with mainstream Lutheran denominations and is named the OALC — is an insular neighborhood with many old-world traditions. There is no such thing as a official rely, however one educational examine estimated 31,000 members worldwide as of 2016, with most in america.

We examined lots of of pages of legal data, performed greater than a dozen interviews with alleged victims throughout the nation, reviewed video and audio of police interviews with Massie, victims and church leaders, and attended a service on the Outdated Apostolic Lutheran Church in Duluth.

Daryl Bruckelmyer, an OALC preacher, declined to remark or reply an in depth record of questions for this story. However in a 2023 interview with a St. Louis County detective, he acknowledged realizing about Massie’s sexual abuse. He stated on the time that it was as much as victims to report the crimes to police, a transparent misreading of the regulation for mandated reporters — medical doctors, academics and others who’re required to report crimes towards kids.

“We don’t defend both one,” Bruckelmyer stated of sexual abusers and their victims.

You possibly can learn the investigation right here, however listed below are 5 takeaways from our reporting:

Church leaders knew concerning the abuse: Leaders of Bruckelmyer’s church didn’t report Massie to police although they knew he’d sexually abused ladies for years and Bruckelmyer had been instructed by police that reporting it was their responsibility. It was an open secret within the congregation: Moms warned their kids to avoid Massie, victims stated. Church leaders additionally despatched Massie to a therapist who specialised in intercourse offender remedy. In December 2024, Massie pleaded responsible to 4 felony counts of sexual conduct with a sufferer underneath the age of 13. In March, a choose sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in jail.

Victims had been instructed to forgive and neglect: Church leaders held conferences the place kids had been instructed to forgive the person who sexually abused them and neglect the abuse. In the event that they spoke of it, the sin could be theirs. The conferences, described by victims to the police and confirmed via our reporting, led to one case with a church chief permitting Massie to hug the sufferer. An inside church doc additionally outlines tips for dealing with abuse and means that, when acceptable, each events be introduced collectively for a dialogue.

Missed alternatives to intervene: Prosecutors had at the very least one alternative to intervene however hoped educating church leaders about their duties would encourage them to cooperate with authorities. Our reporting discovered that church leaders didn’t report what they discovered about Massie regardless of a state regulation requiring clergy and others to share the data with regulation enforcement. In response to regulation enforcement notes, Bruckelmyer instructed investigators that they encourage abuse victims to go to police, however that they believed it was “on [victims] to try this.”

John Hiivala, a spokesperson for the Woodland Park Outdated Apostolic Lutheran Church in Duluth, stated that the church “has absolutely complied with the regulation within the referenced case, and it’s a matter of authorized report.”

Kimberly Lowe, a lawyer and disaster supervisor for the church, stated its preachers are unpaid and due to this fact won’t be legally required to report sexual abuse of youngsters. Requested if she believes the preachers are mandated reporters underneath Minnesota regulation, Lowe would solely say that the language of the statute is unclear.

A small however quickly rising church: OALC is a conservative Christian revival motion that got here to the U.S. with Nineteenth-century settlers from Norway, Finland and Sweden. It’s not affiliated with any mainstream Lutheran denominations. Solely males maintain management positions. The church is quickly rising, and its emphasis on massive households has created booms in locations like Washington state and Duluth. Members try to stay a life as modest and easy as Jesus’. Because of this they don’t dance, hearken to music or watch motion pictures, in line with former members. Within the OALC, they stated, forgiveness is likely one of the most vital acts one can carry out.

Victims filed lawsuits: Since Massie’s sentencing, two of his alleged victims have filed lawsuits towards him, their church in South Dakota and the OALC. They’ve retained the identical lawyer who represented a few of the victims within the Jeffrey Epstein case.

In a letter written from jail that was filed in court docket, Massie denied the abuse allegations within the lawsuits. He didn’t reply to interview requests. The OALC, in a movement to dismiss each lawsuits, wrote that “whereas OALC-America is aware and sympathetic to Plaintiff for the abuse Plaintiff alleges occurred by Massie, such empathy doesn’t take away from the plain proven fact that this Court docket doesn’t have private jurisdiction over OALC-America.”