Priest sent emails expressing love to girl who says he abused her

The University of St. Thomas priest accused of sexual contact with a young girl expressed love and affection for her in deeply personal e-mails he sent her from Rome when she was 14 and 15 years old.

“Be really sure that I love you lots and lots and never think of you without a smile coming to my mind,” the Rev. Michael J. Keating wrote in one of at least 19 e-mails made public Thursday on the website of her attorney, Jeff Anderson of St. Paul. Anderson said the writings were presented as evidence seven years ago in a church review of his client’s sexual abuse claims, but high-ranking officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis disregarded them.

In three of the e-mails sent between 1999 and 2000, Keating addressed the girl as “Dear Sweetheart” and teased her about boys her age.

“I’m afraid you are going to have to get used to being hounded by boys,” wrote Keating, who was then 44 and studying to be a priest. “You’re too pretty and too charming not to be and you’ll only get prettier and charmier as the years go by.”

The e-mails, which the girl’s mother has described as “quite seductive,” were part of the case the girl’s family brought to archdiocesan authorities in 2006. The church sided with Keating, and the woman maintained a public silence about her case until she sued Keating last week, alleging three years of harmful sexual contact that caused her deep psychological trauma.

Asked for comment, the archdiocese did not respond immediately.

In November 2007, the archdiocese’s Clergy Review Board concluded there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of sexual abuse of a minor, but the panel recommended supervision for Keating and restrictions over the priest’s interactions with adolescents or young adults.

The alleged victim, who is identified in the lawsuit as “Doe 20,” told the Star Tribune in an interview that she felt church officials believed her, but that Keating’s priesthood was more important.

Anderson said the e-mails and a separate video of his client describing her alleged ordeal with Keating provided “overwhelming evidence” in 2006 for the archdiocese to remove Keating. Now they will become part of the woman’s developing lawsuit against the 57-year-old priest in Ramsey County District Court. She is 28, married and living in the Twin Cities.

Mother said girl uneasy

There were indications in Keating’s e-mails that the girl did not always write back, and the girl’s mother told police investigators in 2006 that her daughter voiced some uneasiness about corresponding with Keating while he was in Rome.

“You don’t have to feel like you have to keep up writing with him,” the mother said she told her daughter.

Keating expressed affection in nearly all of his e-mail sign-offs. In a long e-mail Nov. 24, 2000, the seminarian signed off: “Love you scads (A scad is more than a bunch, similar to an oodle, way more than a lot). Miss you too.”

Another e-mail from Oct. 22, 1999, ended with: “Love you lots and lots and lots.” A month later, he ended another e-mail with “A kiss and a hug.” Another ended with an Italian phrase, “Con molto affetto,” meaning “with great affection.”

Keating often addressed struggles the girl was having in school or home, dwelling on her attributes. On Holy Thursday in the spring of 2000, for instance, he wrote: “You are a dear, sweet person and a really cool kid besides. (I could expand on this for a long time, but I don’t want to flatter you, it’s not good for your complexion.).”

Keating’s e-mails frequently contained references to God, often related to the girl’s struggles. He equated her difficulties fitting in at school as “kind of a crucifixion.” In another e-mail, he offered this boost: “You’ve got really wonderful things ahead of you, kept secret for you by your Father in heaven, who sits up at night and thinks how beautiful you are and how he can delight you.”

In another e-mail, Keating wrote that Christ is “quite passionate about you, he loves you and desires you, with a special love made for you alone.”