David Robert Haas (born 1957 in Bridgeport, Michigan) is an American author and composer of contemporary Catholic liturgical music. In 2020, dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct spanning several decades, and he issued a public apology for harmful behavior. [1]
Haas graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1975. He studied vocal music performance at Central Michigan University from 1975–1977. From 1977–1978, Haas served in parish and school communities in the Diocese of Saginaw. From 1978–1980, Haas was a seminarian for the Diocese of Saginaw, studying at Saint John Vianney College Seminary and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1980–1981, Haas served as a pastoral musician at Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1981–1982, Haas was the Director of Music and Youth Ministry at Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Church in Ankeny, Iowa. From 1982–1985, Haas was Director of Music/Liturgy at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, MN. From 1985–1988, Haas was Composer-in-Residence/Adjunct Instructor at Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1991, Haas completed his B.A. in Theology and Vocal Music Performance from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1991–1994, Haas served as Composer-in-Residence / Pastoral Musician at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1992–2020, Haas served as Director of The Emmaus Center for Music, Prayer and Ministry in his hometown of Eagan, Minnesota. From 1997–2011, Haas worked at the preparatory school Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where he was Campus Minister and Artist-in-Residence. From 2011–2015, Haas served as Campus Minister at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. [2]
He has produced over 45 original collections and recordings of liturgical music and is the author of several books on the topics of prayer and liturgical music. [3] His music has been published in the hymnals of GIA Publications, Oregon Catholic Press, Liturgical Press, World Library Publications, Augsburg Fortress, The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Celebrating Grace, Disciples of Christ, The Anglican Church of Canada, and others. [2] Among his most widely known hymns are "Blest Are They", "We Are Called", and "You Are Mine". [1] Haas has collaborated on recordings, concerts and workshops with Michael Joncas, Marty Haugen, Jeanne Cotter, Lori True, and others. [2]
From 1999 to 2017, Haas directed the program Music Ministry Alive!, a five-day liturgical program for youth and adult leaders that met on the campus of St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. [4] From 1985–1996, Haas served as a Faculty/Team Member for Institutes with the North American Forum on the Catechumenate, helping develop liturgical and musical aspects of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). [2] [5] From 1986–2020, Haas presented at the annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. [2] [6] Haas is a member of St. Cecilia's Parish in St. Paul, where he has volunteered as a cantor. [3] [7]
Haas married fellow composer Jeanne Cotter in October 1988, after the relationship started when Cotter was 16 and Haas 23. Haas and Cotter divorced in March 1995, and the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis granted an annulment. [8]
On May 29, 2020, advocacy group Into Account sent a letter to Catholic organizations, accusing Haas of sexual misconduct with "nearly a dozen" victims. [9] This was subsequently reported by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and Catholic News Agency. [10] [11] Following publication of the letter, an additional 14 women approached Into Account with allegations of sexual misconduct by Haas. Initially, he denied the allegations and denounced them as "false, reckless and offensive". [9] Then, on July 9, 2020, Haas issued an apology on his website, announcing that he was beginning "professional intervention and treatment" and saying: "I have come to realize that I have caused great harm to a variety of people. I make no excuses for any harm that I may have caused. I take responsibility for my behavior and I am truly sorry." [12] On October 1, 2020, Into Account released a report detailing 44 allegations of Haas's sexual misconduct spanning 41 years. [13] [14] The report alleges that from 1979 to 1982 Haas "targeted girls from 13–17 for rape, forced oral sex" and "false romantic and sexual relationships", and that from 1981 to 2019 Haas targeted "girls 14–17 for grooming" and "false mentorship bonds" and targeted "young adults and women 18–60 for grooming and forced sexual acts." [14] A lawsuit further alleged that his Music Ministry Alive program shielded a suspended priest who had been credibly accused of child sexual abuse and prohibited from contact with minors. [15]
Theodore Edgar McCarrick is a laicized American bishop and former cardinal of the Catholic Church. Ordained a priest in 1958, he became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1977, then became Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, in 1981. From 1986 to 2000, he was Archbishop of Newark. He was created a cardinal in February 2001 and served as Archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. Following credible allegations of repeated sexual misconduct towards boys and seminarians, he was removed from public ministry in June 2018, became the first cardinal to resign from the College of Cardinals because of claims of sexual abuse in July 2018, and was laicized in February 2019. Several honors he had been awarded, such as honorary degrees, were rescinded.
The Diocese of Des Moines is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southwestern Iowa in the United States. It is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque. The see city for the diocese is Des Moines. The cathedral parish for the diocese is St. Ambrose.
The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by an archbishop who administers the archdiocese from the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop has both a cathedral and co-cathedral: the mother church – the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, and the co-cathedral, the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.
The Diocese of Charlotte is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in western North Carolina in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Atlanta.
The Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory – or diocese – of the Catholic Church comprising West Virginia in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The Diocese of Lansing is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory – or diocese – of the Catholic Church located in the south-central portion of Michigan in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of metropolitan Archdiocese of Detroit.
The Diocese of Memphis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the western part of Tennessee in the United States.
Rembert George Samuel Weakland was an American Catholic bishop and Benedictine monk who served as Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002.
Donald William Wuerl is an American prelate, a cardinal, of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 2006 to 2018. He was elevated by Pope John Paul II to serve as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle (1986–1987), and bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh (1988–2006). Pope Benedict XVI named Wuerl as archbishop of Washington and made him a cardinal in 2010.
Peter Joseph Jugis is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina since 2003.
Robert James Carlson is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the ninth archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri from 2009 to 2020.
John Clayton Nienstedt is an American retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 2008 until his resignation in 2015 due to his role in the clergy child sex abuse crisis.
This page documents Catholic Church sexual abuse cases by country.
The Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal was part of a series of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in the United States that revealed widespread crimes in the American Catholic Church. In early 2002, TheBoston Globe published results of an investigation that led to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and thrust the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy into the national spotlight. Another accused priest who was involved in the Spotlight scandal also pleaded guilty. The Globe's coverage encouraged other victims to come forward with allegations of abuse, resulting in numerous lawsuits and 249 criminal cases.
The sexual abuse scandal in the Chicago archdiocese in the late 20th and early 21st century is a major chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States and Ireland.
Dale Joseph Melczek was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1982 to 1992 and as bishop of the Diocese of Gary in Indiana from 1996 until 2014.
Mitchell Thomas Rozanski is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri since 2020. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts from 2014 to 2020 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 2004 to 2014.
There have been many lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and scandals over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States of America.
Settlements and bankruptcies in Catholic sex abuse cases have affected several American dioceses, whose compensation payments have totaled in the billions of dollars.
Bernard Anthony Hebda is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has served as the twelfth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota since March 24, 2016.
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