Duluth Diocese to Release List of "Credibly Accused" Priests

By Tom Olsen
Duluth News Tribune
December 31, 2013

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/287522/

The Diocese of Duluth announced Monday that it will voluntarily release a list of its priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, a measure that abuse advocates are hailing as a “step forward” in restoring community trust.

Bishop Paul Sirba plans to reveal the list, believed to contain the names of at least 17 former priests, today during a 10 a.m. news conference.

Verne Wagner, the Northeastern Minnesota director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, was not yet aware of the diocese’s plans when contacted Monday afternoon by the News Tribune.

“That’s great news,” he said. “I’m very pleased that the bishop made that decision. It’s the right thing for him to do.”

The announcement comes several weeks after a lawsuit was filed in State District Court in Duluth seeking the release of information on 17 priests. The suit, filed Dec. 9 on the behalf of an anonymous victim, claimed that the diocese was negligent in allowing abuse to continue and has created a nuisance by not releasing the files of accused priests.

Diocese spokesman Kyle Eller said in a news release that Sirba would release the names, but did not specify whether the release would contain any additional information. Eller and other diocese officials could not be reached for further comment Monday.

Attorney Mike Finnegan, who filed the suit, lauded the diocese’s announcement, but said the release probably would not fully satisfy abuse victims.

“This first step really gives the public information about who the offenders were, but what it doesn’t do is tell the story about when each bishop knew, what he knew and what he did in response to the abuse,” Finnegan said. “The next step is to go after those documents and make sure that part is told as well.”

Finnegan said he will continue to seek that information through the suit filed earlier this month and a previous suit filed in June by another abuse victim.

Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona released lists of credibly abused priests, following a court order. That order stemmed from a suit brought by attorneys, including Finnegan, at St. Paul-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates.

The Twin Cities archdiocese released a list of 30 priests it determined to be credibly accused, and four more with unsubstantiated abuse claims, on Dec. 5. The Winona diocese followed with a list of 14 credibly accused priests on Dec. 16.

The Duluth diocese reported in 2004 that 17 of its former priests had been credibly accused. But only two of those names are publicly known, Finnegan said.

Finnegan also questioned whether the list would be complete, noting that the Twin Cities archdiocese recently suspended two priests who were not named in the original release.

“What we found was that the archdiocese’s list was definitely underreported,” he said. “There were names they knew about that weren’t on that list.”

No active clergy in the Duluth diocese have been accused of sexual abuse, and the diocese has enforced a sexual misconduct policy since 1992, Eller said earlier this month.