Assignment Record– Rev. John Lloyd Caskey

Summary of Case: John Lloyd Caskey was ordained for the St. Cloud diocese in 1982. He worked in numerous St. Cloud parishes, mostly as pastor, and held a variety of leadership positions in the diocese. Notably, Caskey is not indexed in the 1986-1988 Directories, and in 1991-1992 he served as Sacramental Minister at a parish in the New Ulm diocese before returning to St. Cloud. In December 2007, Caskey was investigated by police under suspicion that he sent anonymous "obscene and suggestive" letters to an 18-year-old male. Caskey admitted to sending the letters. During the course of the investigation, police discovered child pornography on Caskey's computer. He pleaded guilty to charges of possession of child pornography in August 2008 and was sentenced in May 2009 to one month in prison and five years' probation. Bishop Kinney removed Caskey from his three parishes in January 2008. The Directories show him to be on "Special Assignment" through 2011.

Ordained: 1982




 




     
Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1982

St. Cloud bishop was George Henry Speltz (1968-1987).

1985 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Morris MN 2/2 Assumption had a school with 110 students.

1985

Spelz was succeeded by Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B. (1987-1994).

1988         Caskey is not indexed in the 1986-1988 Directories; nor is he listed at his previous or subsequent assignments.
1988 1992 St. Anthony's Brown's Valley MN 1/1  

1991

New Ulm bishop was Raymond Alphonse Lucker (1975-2000).

1992 St. Mary's Beardsly MN 1/1 Sacramental Minister Pastoral Administrator was Sr. Catherine Hare, C.S.J.

1992

John Francis Kinney followed Hanus as St. Cloud bishop (1995-2013).

2000 Holy Cross Pearl Lake MN 1/1  
1992 2000 St. Nicholas St. Nicholas MN 1/1, 1/2 Caskey lived in Watkins MN 1996-2000.
1994 1997 Deans Fergus Falls MN    
1997 2000 Deans Cold Spring MN    
2000 2002 Deans Sauk Centre MN    
1994 2002 Presbyteral Council St. Cloud MN Secretary 1996-1997; Vice Chair 1997-1998; Chair 2000-2002  
2002 2006 Diocesan Consultor St. Cloud MN    
2000 2007 Christ the King Browerville MN 1/1 Christ the King had a school with 48-69 students.
2003 2004 St. Isodore's Moran MN 1/1 St. Isodore's had a religious education program with 45 students.
2003 2004 St. Joseph's Clarissa MN 1/1 St. Joseph's had a religious education program with 87 students.
9/16/07 12/07 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Morris

Caskey was charged in January 2008 with possession of child pornography. Bishop Kinney said he learned of the charges after reading about them in the paper. He also said he knew in December that Caskey was being investigated by police for sending someone an "inappropriate letter." Court documents showed there were multiple "obscene and suggestive letters" sent anonymously to an 18-year-old male. Caskey admitted to writing the letters. Police discovered the child porn during their investigation related to the letters.

MN 1/2

Assumption had a school wtih 125 students.

 

Caskey was removed from his three parishes January 29, 2008. He had not been active in ministry since December 2007.

9/16/07 12/07 St. Mary's Chokio MN 1/2, Parochial Administrator St. Mary's had a school with 44 students.
9/16/07 12/07 St. Joseph's Herman MN 1/2, Parochial Administrator Caskey lived at St. Mary's in Chokio.
12/07 2011 Special Assignment      

Caskey pled guilty in August 2008, in a plea agreement, to child porn possession.

Caskey was sent to St. Luke's Institute in Silver Springs, MD for a four-day evaluation.

Caskey was sentenced in May 2009 to one month in prison and five years' probation.

Caskey is not indexed beyond the 2011 Directory.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons


St. Cloud / Bishop Removes Priest in Porn Case, St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), January 31, 2008
St. Cloud Priest Faces 20 Counts of Child Porn, Bishop Learned of the Allegations after Reading Online Newspaper Story, Star Tribune, February 1, 2008
Porn Case Ends Priest's Work, By David Unze, St. Cloud Times (Minnesota), February 1, 2008
Former Morris Priest Pleads Guilty, Morris Sun Tribune, August 20, 2008
Priest Sentenced, KSAX, May 11, 2009

 

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Caskey's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on December 4, 2015.