Children in This Church Were Sexually Abused. Then They Began Abusing Other Kids. Some Continued as Adults. by Jeremy Kohler and Andy Mannix

Children in This Church Were Sexually Abused. Then They Began Abusing Other Kids. Some Continued as Adults. As ProPublica and the Minnesota Star Tribune investigated child sexual abuse in the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church, reporters found a common theme: children who were victims of sexual misconduct going on to repeat the behavior. https://www.propublica.org/article/old-apostolic-lutheran-church-child-sexual-assault-cycle-abuse?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary Series Timeline: Our reporting found that the OALC encouraged victims to forgive their abusers and forget the abuse. See the full timeline of our coverage: Nov. 20, 2025: We revealed how the OALC in Duluth, Minnesota, had protected a church member who’d repeatedly sexually abused children. https://www.propublica.org/article/sexual-abuse-old-apostolic-lutheran-church-minnesota?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary Dec. 5, 2025: Reporter Jessica Lussenhop wrote about the recording of a police interview that informed much of our reporting. https://www.propublica.org/article/minnesota-old-apostolic-lutheran-church-sexual-abuse-police-recording?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary Dec. 23, 2025: A Minnesota lawmaker said she would study ways to improve and enforce mandated reporter laws. She introduced legislation to do that. https://www.propublica.org/article/minnesota-mandated-reporting-law-old-apostolic-lutheran-church?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary June 4, 2026: Reporters Andy Mannix and Jeremy Kohler found the OALC’s culture of forgiving and forgetting sins ensnared parents, children and grandchildren in the same cycle of abuse. https://www.propublica.org/article/old-apostolic-lutheran-church-generational-sexual-abuse?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary Representatives of the OALC in the U.S. and Canada acknowledged that bringing a victim to face their abuser can be traumatic. But they defended the church’s doctrine of forgiveness, saying it was not a means to conceal wrongdoing or to shield offenders from legal consequences, and no one is coerced to forgive or to ask for forgiveness.