Deadline Extended for Minn. Priest List Release

Faribault County Register
January 4, 2014

http://www.faribaultcountyregister.com/page/content.detail/id/434595/Deadline-extended-for-Minn--priest-list-release.html?isap=1&nav=5050

A judge on Friday gave the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis more time to release a second list of priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse.

Ramsey County Judge John Van de North extended the deadline until Feb. 5.

Archdiocese officials went to court Friday morning to argue that the names of some priests accused of child sexual abuse should not be included on the list that it had been ordered to file by this coming Monday.

The second list updates a list the church prepared a decade ago of priests who it deemed had been "credibly accused."

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In a statement Friday, the archdiocese said it was pleased that the judge granted the delay.

"The archdiocese is grateful to the Court for considering the importance of avoiding needless damage to the reputations of clergy members who have been falsely accused," the statement said.

The Diocese of Winona wrote a letter to the court supporting the archdiocese's position. Last month, the Twin Cities archdiocese and the Winona diocese released lists of credibly accused priests, following a court order. The term "credibly accused" means an accusation that is not implausible.

"Rumors spread by a mentally unbalanced individual, by a disgruntled parish employee, by conservative parishioners disliking a liberal pastor (or vice versa) ... would have to be publicly disclosed without regard to credibility," the archdiocese's attorney, Tom Wieser, wrote in a Dec. 18 letter to Van de North.

The attorney for the victim whose lawsuit against the archdiocese resulted in the court order asked the judge to deny the request.

"The archdiocese again focuses on protecting those accused of abuse and the archdiocese's own reputation," attorney Mike Finnegan wrote in a Dec. 20 letter to the court.