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	Mexico Bans St. Paul Lawyer for 5 Years Attorney Said He Will Not Be Stopped in "Exposing the Truth about Pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church." By Pamela Miller Minneapolis Star Tribune [Minnesota] October 16, 2006 http://www.startribune.com/462/story/747204.html Mexico has put out the "not welcome" mat for St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson. Anderson said Monday that he and two colleagues will fight an order by Mexican immigration authorities banning them from entering the country for five years. Anderson, whose specialty is representing victims in clergy sex abuse cases, learned of the ban Friday. On Sept. 20, he scuffled with immigration authorities during a Mexico City news conference about a lawsuit that accuses two Roman Catholic cardinals, Norberto Rivera, of Mexico, and Roger Mahony, of Los Angeles, of conspiring to protect a priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of children in Mexico and California. The suit was filed on behalf of a 25-year-old man who claims to have been raped by the priest in 1994. Anderson was in Mexico with fellow St. Paul attorney Michael Finnegan and David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Mexican immigration authorities said in a news release that the three were sanctioned for "conducting different activities than those authorized upon their entry on Mexican soil." Said Anderson: "It's not true. ... We violated no law or rule. We were there to tell the truth, which is that Cardinal Rivera has been complicit in concealing crimes against children." He said sexual abuse by clergy is "rampant" in Mexico, but that it has not been addressed because priests are revered, because of "a strong taboo" on talking about sexual abuse and because the government bows to the will of the church and Rivera. Spokesmen for Rivera and Mahony have denied that they conspired to conceal the priest from California legal authorities. Anderson said he will use diplomatic and legal channels to try to get the ban lifted. "No matter what, we will not be silenced or intimidated in exposing the truth about pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, Central or South America," he said. At Monday's news conference, Anderson introduced Ivonne Manay, a Peruvian native he has hired to work with Spanish-speaking sex abuse victims. His firm's website, www.andersonadvocates. com, will soon contain Spanish translations, and a website, www.helpfortheabused.org, will focus on efforts in Mexico. Anderson's already high profile is a thorn in the side of the Catholic Church, and is likely to increase with the release of the docu-drama "Deliver Us From Evil," the story of the Rev. Oliver O'Grady, a convicted pedophile. Anderson appears in the film, which will open Oct. 27 at Landmark Theatres' Edina Cinema. Pamela Miller • 612-673-4290 • pmiller@startribune.com
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