Michael Kolar
Father Michael Kolar was ordained on May 24, 1969, and subsequently worked at parishes and organizations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. He was permanently removed from ministry and laicized in 1993. Father Kolar’s name was released on February 17, 2014, as part of a court-ordered disclosure requiring the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to publicly name priests with credible accusations of child sexual abuse.
The priest file of former Archdiocesan priest Father Michael Kolar was made public on July 23, 2014, due to a civil lawsuit filed in Ramsey County in 2013 by a survivor of Father Thomas Adamson. Doe 1 and his attorneys successfully sought and obtained the release of a list of credibly accused priests and their secret files from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona.
Father Michael Kolar worked in the Archdiocese for decades and with the help of top Church officials, including now-Archbishop Robert Carlson and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough, Kolar was allowed to remain in positions where he sexually abused numerous girls and evaded civil authorities. Warnings from abuse survivors, parents, another priest and Kolar’s therapist were ignored by the Archdiocese and Kolar was sent to St. Luke Institute. To avoid scandal, Kolar was then sent to South America and finally Archbishop Roach pushed Kolar into laicization telling the Holy See, because of the legal and media climate, he was unable to assign Kolar.
Kolar later alleged he was sexually abused by former head of Catholic Charities Msgr. Jerome Boxleitner and Kolar attempted to work for the Catholic Church again in 1995. He is still living and resides in St. Paul.
In 1991 ABC and XYZ sued the Archdiocese of Saint Paul Minneapolis, Reverend Michael Kolar and Mr. Jim Kolar for childhood sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Father Kolar. At the time, Father Kolar was director of the Catholic Youth Center and NET. It is now known that the Court did not have the full record of Kolar that is produced below. The Court with the Appellate Court affirming, dismissed ABC and XYZ saying as a matter of law that ABC and XYZ brought their action too late and that the statute of limitations barred a lawsuit. In 2013 the Child Victims Act was enacted eliminating the Statute of Limitations in Minnesota.
According to the Archdiocese, Father Kolar received the following Archdiocesan assignments:
- 1969: Assistant Director, Catholic Youth Center, St. Paul, MN
- 1969 – 1970: Associate Pastor, St. Raphael’s, Crystal, MN
- 1970 – 1988: Assistant Director/Director, Catholic Youth Center
- 1990-1991: Appointed to Latin American Apostolate
- 1991: Resigned