Former NJ Priest Resigns

A Roman Catholic priest in Hopkins, Minn. has resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct in New Jersey, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Nicole Selleck said the Rev. Robert Zasacki offered his resignation on Sunday, two weeks after the Archdiocese of Newark revealed the allegation. A man claimed that Zasacki abused him in the 1970s in New Jersey, when Zasacki served in his first 13 years as a priest.

"Father Zasacki indicated in resigning that he had no recollection of the abuse of which he was accused," the archdiocese said.

Zasacki's resignation from the Church of St. Joseph in Hopkins, which he told the congregation about during Masses on Sunday and was first reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, is effective immediately. He has served in several parishes during his time in Minnesota.

The archdiocese said Zasacki came to the Twin Cities area in 1980 to receive treatment for alcoholism. At the time, the archdiocese said, it learned only about his history of alcoholism, not of any allegations of sexual misconduct.

No complaints of misconduct have arisen from Zasacki's service here, the archdiocese said.

Zasacki was ordained in the Archdiocese of Newark in 1967. Jim Goodness, a spokesman for that archdiocese, said the allegation was being investigated and the archdiocese learned of it just within the last couple of weeks.

The Hopkins church referred calls Tuesday to the Twin Cities archdiocese, and Zasacki has no listed home number.

Zasacki moved to Hopkins in November from the Church of the Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale. Previously, he served at St. Peter in Forest Lake and St. Joseph and St. Peter in Delano.

According to the archdiocese newspaper, Zasacki served in Lindstrom and Circle Pines and at the Cathedral of St. Paul before officially becoming a priest of the Twin Cities archdiocese.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP