Name | Valentine Klimek | Parish Priest |
Date of Birth | Unknown | |
Date of Ordination | 1944 | |
Association with LUC | 1948-1949 | |
Position at LUC | Unclear | |
Date of incident, Location of Incident | Unclear | St. Cloud, MN |
1966-1967 | Winnetka, IL | |
Number of victims/accusations | At least 2 individual victims | |
Case status | Accused | |
Status of Individual | Deceased | 8/7/1994 |
Of the child sexual abuser priests who had a connection to Loyola University Chicago, Reverend Valentine Klimek is the earliest known case. Klimek was not a member of the Jesuit order, but a parish priest from St. Cloud, Minnesota. He was present at Loyola University Chicago between 1948 and 1949, but what his position was at the school is unclear. At the time he was absent with leave from his assignment at St. Cloud. In 1991 a St. Cloud woman came forward accusing Klimek of having abused her son and a friend of this boy when they were eight or nine years old.[1] For most of his career, Klimek surrounded himself with minors, from working as a spiritual director at Cathedral High School in Minnesota and director of a Catholic youth organization in St. Cloud as well as involvement with the Boy Scouts. Klimek passed away in 1994.[2]
[1] Jeff Anderson & Associates PA, “The Anderson Report – Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese and Dioceses in Illinois” (AndersonAdvocates.com, December 2019), 22, https://www.andersonadvocates.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Child-Sexual-Abuse-in-the-Archdiocese-and-dioceses-in-Illinois.pdf.
[2] “Fr. Valentine Klimek – BishopAccountability.Org,” January 11, 2014, https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/klimek-valentine-1944/.