7 Credibly Accused Men Shuffled through Faribault

By Iris Perez
Fox 9
December 6, 2013

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/24151017/priest-abuse-7-credibly-accused-men-shuffled-through-faribault

[with video]

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis revealed that 7 of the men church leaders believe have been credibly accused of child sex abuse spent at least a year leading congregations in Faribault, Minn.

Attorney Jeff Anderson's office reports at least 15 victims are connected to the following men:

- Dennis Kampa

- Lee Krautkremer

- Gilbert DeSutter

- John Brown

- Richard Jeub

- Patrick Ryan

- Albert Longley

All of the priests led churches in Faribault for between a year and a decade between the years of 1922 and 2000, but some stayed even longer. Anderson believes that's because the church had a habit of purposely moving accused clergy to serve in the quiet, rural city, away from victims who had reported them.

"Sometimes they would place known offenders in rural parishes, where they're less likely to be known to the victims that reported the crimes," Anderson said.

While all those listed have been permanently removed from ministry or no longer serve, the list shows allegations against Longley and six others have been kept secret for decades. In fact, allegations against Ryan and Longley were revealed for the first time Thursday.

"My name is Finnegan. Once it got misspelled with an S -- Sinnigan. That's so true; we all sin," Father Kevin Finnegan told Fox 9 News.

Finnegan has served as a priest in Faribault since 1999 and now leads the parish now known as Divine Mercy Catholic Church, which was established in 2002 after three Faribault churches -- Immaculate Conception, St. Lawrence and Sacred Heart -- merged. He has also met several of the men identified in the list on Thursday, and he says the church must face it.

"Whether it happened today or 50 years ago, we just got to deal with it and confront it," he said.

Now, he says he believes the Archdiocese's disclosure Thursday is a tremendous step toward transparency; however, Anderson is quick to point out that the list was not released voluntary. Rather, the disclosure was ordered by a Ramsey County judge.

"It's awful," Finnegan acknowledged. "It's awful; we just got to deal with it and confront it."

Yet, a big question still hovers over the Faribault parish -- and many others in the metro: Where the men accused of child abuse before or after their time in Southern Minnesota? Yet, an attorney with Jeff Anderson's office told Fox 9 News the files that contain those answers are still protected by the chancellor and the archbishop.

That attorney also said he believes the Archdiocese has chosen to keep the timeline of reported accusations secret because it would reveal which members knew about the offenders, thus incriminating members of the church hierarchy for withholding information.

Yet, Father Finnegan tells Fox 9 News there are at least 20 Archbishops, and there hasn't been "some master plan at hand" in these cases. In fact, he stresses that he is a mandated reporter and said if anyone came to him with an allegation, he would "necessarily go the police."