March 25, 2026

Two Minnesota cases expose how clergy power dynamics—and victim-blaming tactics—are colliding with secular law

Last year, a Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was charged with “sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening a woman to whom he had given spiritual guidance.” A woman said Father Joseph Herzing had counseled her over a period of several years beginning in 2018, and that relationship soon turned sexual… and violent.

Setting aside the horrific details of the allegations, Herzing was a priest. He was supposed to be celibate. He was in a position of power over a woman he was guiding. Even if everything had been consensual—and the allegations said they were not—it would have been unethical and potentially criminal.

 

Two recent cases in Minnesota highlight the troubling intersection of clergy power dynamics and victim-blaming tactics within secular law, as Catholic priests from the St. Cloud Diocese, Father Joseph Herzing and Father Aaron Kuhn, were charged with sexually abusing women under their spiritual guidance; both exploited their positions of trust to manipulate, coerce, and assault victims, raising serious ethical and legal concerns about abuse of authority and the challenges survivors face in seeking justice.

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