Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls

Beginning in 2003 and extending to mid-2010, Native Americans who had been students at boarding schools, mission schools and other Catholic institutions in South Dakota began filing suits for having been physically and sexually abused at those places. Some cases dated from the 1950 to 1970s; others were more recent. They sued the dioceses of Rapid City and Sioux Falls, in addition to the orders of priests and sisters that operated these facilities, and named individual alleged predators, including staff members, in court documents. By 2010, more than 100 plaintiffs had joined these suits.[3]

In March 2019, the Diocese of Sioux Falls published the names of eleven priests accused of child sex abuse of parishioners between 1950 and 1992. This is consistent with the national policy of the Church by then, as it works to be more transparent about alleged abuses in the far-reaching abuse scandals that have engulfed the church in parishes across the country for two decades.[4]

In South Dakota and elsewhere, the officials of the dioceses have noted that they do not have responsibility for alleged abuses at off-reservation and mission boarding schools that were operated by priests and nuns from a variety of religious orders, which have independence within the Catholic Church. These orders operate separately from any diocese. Plaintiffs have filed separate suits against the officials at the schools, the orders that operated them, and specific named defendants, in cases dating from 2003 to 2010.[4][3]

Within the territory of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, institutions named in these suits include St. Paul's Indian Mission School, grades K-12 (in 1975 it was transferred to the Yankton Sioux Tribe, which renamed it as Marty Indian School and operates it); St. Joseph's Indian School, an off-reservation facility in Chamberlain, South Dakota; and Tekakwitha Indian Mission School (with an associated orphanage) on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in Sisseton, South Dakota, and the orders that operated them.[4] Tekakwitha School was closed in the 1970s during the transfer to tribes, and the building was demolished.

• Robert James Carlson (1994-1995)

• Paul Francis Anderson (1982-1987)

The following men began their service as priests in Sioux Falls before being appointed bishops elsewhere:

• Thomas Gullickson, appointed Apostolic Nuncio and Titular Archbishop in 1976 [5]
• Donald Joseph Kettler, appointed Bishop of Fairbanks in 2002. Later appointed Bishop of Saint Cloud in 2013.