Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed against New Ulm Diocese, Lawyers Seeking Accused Priest Names

By Gretchen Schlosser
West Central Tribune
December 12, 2013

http://www.wctrib.com/content/sex-abuse-lawsuit-filed-against-new-ulm-diocese-lawyers-seeking-accused-priest-names

Attorneys from the Jeff Anderson law firm will announce today the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit, on behalf of a man abused in 1982 by the Rev. Francis Markey at St. Andrew Parish in Granite Falls.

The lawsuit names the Diocese of New Ulm and Servants of the Paraclete as defendants and alleges both defendants were negligent in failing to supervise Markey and allowing him to work in communities and parishes with access to children.

The event, in Mankato, will also include a request of the release of the 12 names of accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of New Ulm and discussion of the release of 34 names released in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and St. John’s Abbey release of 18 former monks who likely offended against minors.

According to the lawsuit and other information from Anderson’s firm, Markey was ordained as a priest in 1952 and accused of sexual abuse of at least three children in the 1960s and 1970s while he was serving in Ireland. He was sent to the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico in 1981 and came to Minnesota in 1981 to participate in a clinical pastoral education program at the Willmar State Hospital.

He was appointed by the diocese in 1982 to serve as priest at the Church of St. Andrew in Granite Falls.

Markey died in 2012 in Ireland, while he was awaiting trial for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in Lough Derg, Ireland.