The Bizarre Tale of Rev. Ryan St. Anne Scott

Matt Abbott

During his tenure in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., then-Bishop Raymond Burke – currently the noted Archbishop of St. Louis - had a particularly interesting cross to bear, one might say. That cross was one Ryan Patrick Scott. Father Ryan Patrick Scott, that is.

Or, as he is currently known, Father Ryan St. Anne, O.S.B. You see, Scott is an independent Catholic priest. In Church-speak, he is schismatic, that is, not in communion with Rome. And whether he is/was validly ordained is unclear.

In a September 1999 edition of the La Crosse Tribune, reporter Gayda Hollnagel wrote:

“Bishop Raymond Burke and two other Diocese of La Crosse officials have been named in a defamation suit filed Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court.

“The suit was filed by Ryan St. Anne Scott, who is identified in the suit as the senior religious official for the Holy Rosary Abbey Inc., Pocahontas, Iowa.

“Scott, who previously operated Holy Rosary Abbey in Vernon and Crawford counties, also uses the name, Father Ryan St. Anne Scott.

“Scott accuses Burke of defaming him by making public statements saying that Scott is not a validly ordained Roman Catholic priest, that he does not follow the precepts, dogma, sacred teaching and traditions, doctrines, practices and mandates of the Roman Catholic Church.

“Also named in the suit were the Rev. Michael Gorman, diocesan moderator of the curia, and Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, diocesan chancellor.

“James Birnbaum, lawyer for the La Crosse diocese, said the diocese has not yet been served with the lawsuit and that he has not talked with Burke about it. However, he said he received a copy of the claim from a news reporter.

“'There's nothing in there that I believe has legal or factual merit,’ Birnbaum said.

“He said the diocese has had previous dealings with Scott and in October 1996 obtained a temporary restraining order against him after Scott threatened Burke.

“Birnbaum said Scott was never a priest of the diocese and had no connection with Burke or the diocese while he operated his Holy Rosary Abbey monastery.

“The diocese in 1996 published an official decree in the diocesan newspaper, the Times Review, disavowing any connection with Scott.

“According to Tribune files, Scott, a former finance officer for Edgerton, Wis., pleaded no contest to felony misconduct in office in Rock County on Feb. 3, 1994, was placed on three years probation….

“Diocesan officials said in 1996 that they were notified of Scott's presence by Erwin G. Clouse, Metropolitan Archbishop of the American Catholic Church, also known as the Reformed Catholic Church of America.

“Scott was a former priest of the group but was excommunicated by its Council of Bishops, according to the information received by the diocese.”

Also of note is St. Anne Scott’s reported association with the late Marvin Kucera, an alleged “mystic” who, according to an article on UnityPublishing.com, was “a con artist from the beginning.”

In an e-mail, St. Anne Scott told me the article on that site is a “99 percent fabrication” and that, “I was not Marvin Kucera's ‘spiritual director’ - I had only met him on one occasion in Wisconsin for about 15 minutes.”

St. Anne Scott and Marvin Kucera are also mentioned in E. Michael Jones’ book, 'The Medjugorje Deception.'

St. Anne Scott had been residing in Powers Lake, North Dakota until early August of this year.

In an August 24 story in The Minot Daily News, reporter Andrea Johnson wrote:

“The sometimes controversial former administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Prairies here left Powers Lake earlier this month.

“Paul Dobrowski, a member of the board of directors, said Friday the board asked Ryan St. Anne, 51, to leave the Shrine. Dobrowski said St. Anne has purchased a former medical facility in Galesburg, Ill., where he plans to establish a new independent Benedictine monastery.

“The daughter of an 82-year-old long-time parishioner who left the Shrine with St. Anne said Friday she's concerned about her mother's welfare.

“Bobbie Fleming, of Orangevale, Calif., said she last spoke with her mother, Roseanna Gevelinger, more than three weeks ago. Gevelinger is one of two elderly former parishioners who left with St. Anne, Dobrowski said. St. Anne, when reached by phone Friday in Galesburg, said that Gevelinger is with him in Galesburg. He declined to put Gevelinger on the phone and referred questions to her attorney, Kathleen Key Imes of Williston. Imes said Friday that she could not comment on issues regarding her client.

“St. Anne, who has also gone by the name of Ryan Patrick Scott, created some controversy during his time in North Dakota.

“Bishop Paul Zipfel, of the Bismarck Catholic Diocese, issued a statement last summer stating that he does not recognize St. Anne as a priest. The Shrine of Our Lady of the Prairies is also not considered part of the diocese.

“St. Anne calls himself a ‘traditional Catholic priest’ and abbot of an independent Benedictine monastery called Holy Rosary Abbey. He says the Latin Mass and does not believe in changes that took place in the Roman Catholic Church following the Vatican II Council in the 1960s. He came to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Prairies in early 2003. In the past several years, St. Anne has also lived in Wisconsin, in Pocahontas, Iowa, and in Hornbeck, La.

“St. Anne and Gevelinger obtained a restraining order in April 2004 in Northwest District Court in Williston against Shrine board members Dobrowski and Jerry Durick. In the petition, St. Anne alleged that members of the board had made threats against him and threatened to destroy property and financial records at the Shrine. St. Anne also alleged that the Shrine is the subject of a county, state, and federal investigation into its finances prior to St. Anne's arrival at the Shrine.

“Dobrowski said…he didn't know why St. Anne obtained the restraining order, which is still in effect.

“St. Anne has a 1994 felony conviction for misconduct in public office, dating back to the time he served as finance officer in Edgerton, Wis. St. Anne pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to three years of probation by a Rock County, Wis., judge, which he served from 1994 to 1997….”

There is more.

According to one source whom I will call “Joe,” around 1989, St. Anne Scott was in Wisconsin, going by the name “Brother Damian St. Anne.” He reportedly was attempting to establish a Franciscan Friary there.

In the early 1990’s, a priest of the Madison Catholic Diocese, Father Clarence Koch, who had been residing at Holy Rosary Parish in Darlington, Wisconsin, was found dead in the trunk of his car. The exact cause of Koch’s death is unclear. And there are conflicting reports about exactly where his car was found.

Another source, “Bob,” recalls this about Father Koch:

“[Koch] listed his resume during the sermon and included the admission that he had received psychological counseling in prior years and relied on the ‘help of close friends.’ [I] also remember how on one Sunday, he read the Gospel in which Jesus summoned Peter to follow Him and become ‘fishers of men...and women.’ After Mass I asked him if Jesus, as an orthodox Jew, would say such a thing? Guess I was then a budding member of the Church Militant. Or maybe he was just reading an early version of the ICEL guidelines.

“His sermons seemed to be about whatever CNN was covering (the San Francisco earthquake happened that week). I never could connect the headlines with the Readings of the day. He seemed happy or at least on very good medication.

“The story was that one day he just disappeared and several days later (maybe a week), they found his body in the trunk of his car some distance from Darlington. Never really heard anything more than that. Everyone assumed it was suicide and didn't talk about it much. Don't know if there was a note.

“…Also, a Franciscan priest and brother…were assigned to Darlington (I think) before Father Koch. They were introduced at Sunday Mass and for several months set about helping the parish and school. I remember them wearing their sandals in church; they also had good looking brown robes and beads. Months later they were gone. I found out later from the town cop that the Franciscans were complete frauds and had left town.”

Those two “Franciscans” reportedly were St. Anne Scott and his associate, Barry Douglas Rodgers, also known as “Brother Gregory.”

According to “Joe,” St. Anne Scott had claimed he had reported Father Koch to another priest for pedophilia, which, according to St. Anne Scott, caused him and Rodgers to be ordered out of the diocese.

It’s quite interesting that, in the last 14 years, two priests of the Madison Catholic Diocese have died under mysterious circumstances – Father Koch, and Father Alfred Kunz, whose 1998 murder remains unsolved; and who, incidentally, was associated for a time with St. Anne Scott.

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Matt C. Abbott is the former executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee and the former director of public affairs for the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. He is also a contributor to Cruxnews.com, MichNews.com, RenewAmerica.us, AmericanDaily.com, ChristianNewsToday.com, Catholiccitizens.org, "The Wanderer" Catholic newspaper, IllinoisLeader.com, TCRNews2.com, CatholicExchange.com, Catholic.net, and Catholic.org.

mattcabbott@CatholicExchange.com