A victims' advocacy group says the adult participants in an Episcopalcenter's retreat should be told that the facilitator is registered withthe Texas Department of Corrections. The former priest says he isreformed.

 

A group representing clergy sex-abuse victims criticized an Episcopalretreat center in Collegeville, Minn., on Tuesday for inviting aregistered sex offender -- the brother of the center's director -- tolead a retreat this weekend.

LynnBauman, 64, admitted to molesting an 8-year-old boy on a camping tripin 1996 and was sentenced to 10 years' probation, according to theTexas Department of Corrections. He said Tuesday night that he admittedto wrongdoing and has not reoffended, and that it is "not germane" tohis work now.

Bauman is scheduled to lead this weekend's$310-per-person "Wisdom School Introduction" retreat, which focuses onfact and fiction about Mary Magdalene and related topics, from Thursdayto Sunday at the Episcopal House of Prayer. The center can accommodate24 people per retreat.

The center, which is associated with theEpiscopal Diocese of Minnesota, is built on land leased from St. John'sAbbey, according to diocese spokesman Joe Bjordal and abbey spokesmanthe Rev. William Skudlarek.

"Here we have a convicted sexoffender coming into Minnesota under the guise of religion, andeveryone who attends could be in harm's way," said Bob Schwiderski ofthe Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests(SNAP). "And it's not the first time he's been here. We don't know whomight come into contact with him while he's here."

Bauman, aformer Episcopalian priest and the brother of Episcopal House of Prayerdirector Ward Bauman, is profiled on the Texas Department of PublicSafety's sex-offender registration program website.

A front-pageDallas Morning News story dated Aug. 11, 1999, said a plea bargain wasstruck over the 1996 camping-trip incident because the boy's family didnot want the boy subjected to a trial.

Reached at his Texas homeTuesday evening, Lynn Bauman, who runs a spiritual-educationorganization called Praxis, called the incident "very old news." Hesaid he has followed his probation to the letter.

"If theythought I was dangerous, the authorities would hardly let me travel outof state," Lynn Bauman said. "I'm not a predator, and it's unjust andunfair of people to suggest that I am. The mistake I made, which I haveadmitted, is simply not germane to my work. And there were some thingssaid back then that were not true, yet I have no recourse to defendmyself."

Officials knew of past

In a statement, theEpiscopal Diocese of Minnesota said that Bauman has been "awell-received lecturer at the House of Prayer for over a decade" andthat Episcopal Bishop James Jelinek and St. John's Abbot John Klassenknew of his past.

Jelinek granted a request by the House ofPrayer's board to employ Bauman "subject to the restrictions of [his]probation," the statement said. "On each visit, Mr. Bauman hasregistered with local law enforcement officials. His workshops havebeen for adults only."

Spokeswomen for the Stearns CountySheriff's Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension saidsex offenders registered in other states need only notify Minnesota lawenforcement if they're visiting for longer than 14 days, and then onlyunder certain conditions related to the crime's severity and the termsof their probation.

He's 'paid and suffered'

WardBauman, of Cold Spring, Minn., said Lynn Bauman will be in Minnesotafor four to five days, and added that his brother led retreats at theHouse of Prayer well before he became its director four years ago.

"Lynnhas paid and suffered for this," Ward Bauman said. "But still, the SNAPpeople follow him around. What do they want? They don't look at whethera person is safe now or not. Should a man's life be destroyed over oneincident?"

Schwiderski said SNAP believes retreat participants "should not be kept in the dark" if a facilitator is a sex offender.

"Wewant to be fair to the institutions involved, and this might be anexcellent program, but let's call a spade a spade," he said. "Sexoffenders are registered for a reason. People should not be kept in thedark about who they're dealing with. "

Lynn Bauman said there hasto be a point where a reformed sex offender is allowed to reentersociety as a penitent and productive citizen.

"Where isforgiveness for a person who has made a mistake and not reoffended?" hesaid. "There's no mercy and no justice in these people hounding me.

"Oneof the things forgotten here is that people who have made a mistake cangrow and move on," he said. "I have done that, and all I ask is thatpeople give me a chance to do my work."

Pamela Miller • 612-673-4290 • pmiller@startribune.com