Resigned Winona VG still retains ministry as rector of cathedral

WINONA — The man who abruptly resigned as vicar general and chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Winona continues to say Mass and celebrate the sacraments, parishioners say.

The Rev. Msgr. Richard Colletti has officiated at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St. Casimir, both in Winona, according to parishioners who were present.

Colletti, 63, resigned a week ago after the Post-Bulletin discovered he admitted under oath in the early 1990s that he had a sexual relationship with a college freshman whom he was counseling. The relationship lasted for more than a year, according to court documents, and included a pregnancy scare.

The woman filed a personal injury lawsuit in 1991 against Colletti, the diocese, Saint Mary's University and the Church of St. John the Evangelist, where Colletti was later transferred. The parties settled the case three years later. Though the file remains open, the terms of the settlement are confidential.

The vicar general is the second-highest ranking position in the diocese. Colletti also resigned from his position as administrative chaplain for the Winona Newman Center.

Ben Frost, the diocese's public relations director, told the Post-Bulletin late Wednesday that Colletti resigned his leadership positions but was not suspended from his assignment as a priest.

Post Bulletin

Two things on either side seem strange to me, 1) why the PB investigated Colletti in the first place, and 2) why Colletti was still in college ministry after the allegations.

Cathedral rector and vicar general resigns from Diocese of Winona, MN amid newspaper investigation into past

WINONA — The second-highest ranking official at the Catholic Diocese of Winona resigned Wednesday after the Post-Bulletin discovered that he admitted under oath in the early 1990s that he had a sexual relationship with a college freshman whom he was counseling.

The relationship lasted for more than a year, according to court documents obtained by the Post-Bulletin, and included a pregnancy scare.

The Rev. Msgr. Richard Colletti, 63, who since 2011 had been vicar general of the diocese that serves the 20 southern counties of Minnesota, also resigned as chancellor, the chief record keeper for the diocese. The resignations were effective immediately.

Bishop John Quinn said Wednesday night that had Colletti not offered his resignation, "it would have been within my role to (terminate him). I would have needed more time to discuss all of that with him, but before I even began that discussion, Monsignor informed me that he wished to resign."

The Post-Bulletin obtained hundreds of pages of court documents, including Colletti's testimony taken during a personal injury lawsuit filed by the victim in 1991. The case was dismissed with prejudice in January 1994 by Judge Margaret Shaw Johnson in Winona County District Court.

continue at Post Bulletin