Two separate women have pressed criminal charges against two Catholic priests, accusing Father Aaron Kuhn of sexual assault and Father Joseph Herzing of sexual abuse, respectively.

Minnesota law prohibits “improper sexual contact” by someone in a position of power over someone else, even if the person is of age and consents. As religious watchdog blogger Hemant Mehta explains, “The law says consent cannot truly be given in those circumstances due to the power imbalance,” and it also applies to “a professor and a student, or a boss and an employee, or a therapist and a client.”

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The men’s lawyer, Paul Engh, recently filed two separate motions to have those charges dismissed because, “punishing these men amounts to a violation of their religious freedom” since the law “expressly makes [them] guilty of crime because of [their] status as a priest.” Engh also said the law unfairly punishes the men for sex they had while off-duty, though both women say that the sexual misconduct occurred within relationships that began while seeking spiritual advice.

As Mehta explains (emphasis his), “The state isn’t going after these priests because they’re religious; they’re going after them because their job gives them authority over other people.”

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Engh claimed that the woman suing Herzing “has been predator of the sexually unavailable” and “has a history of intimacy with at least four priests.” But fellow religious watchdog blogger Dan Sealana argues that “the fact that the woman revealed these compulsions to … Kuhn makes the priest more culpable for his actions, not less.”

Mehta argues the law isn’t criminalizing their religion but rather “enforcing the same basic principle that governs every other profession built on trust and vulnerability.” The Diocese of St. Cloud said it suspended both men after learning of the allegations against them.

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