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  Lawyer for Catholic Diocese: Marty Indian School Operated Independently

By Josh Verges
Argus Leader

December 18, 2008

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081218/UPDATES/81218032/1001/news

Responding to charges of sexual abuse at the Marty Indian School, a lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls said the school operated independent of the diocese.

The diocese owns several schools but Marty was never among them, Jeremiah Murphy said.

The Blue Cloud Abbey, an order of Benedictine monks, established the boarding school for Native American students, he said.

Although the bishop must approve when and where a mission is established and whether a priest can act publicly, the reach of the diocese stops there.

“People think because it’s Catholic, the bishop controls it, and 99.9 percent of the time that’s true, but it isn’t here,” Murphy said.

“When the corporation was formed, it was a Benedictine corporation. It was not a diocesan corporation,” he said.

Murphy said the diocese is named in the lawsuits because it has money.

He said these lawsuits are similar to a previous complaint involving the St. Joseph Indian School in Chamberlain, in which case the diocese was dismissed as a defendant because it had no control over the school.

 
 

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