Report: Archdiocese under-reported abusive priests, KARE (February 19, 2014)

Report: Archdiocese under-reported abusive priests

KARE
February 19, 2014

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/crime/2014/02/19/report-archdiocese-under-reported-abusive-priests/5608967/

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A published report says an official list from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis of 33 priests "credibly accused" of sexual abuse was incomplete.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News says the actual number is more than double the official count.

MPR reports its investigation found the archdiocese dealt with allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse involving at least 70 clergy members since 1950.

The priests served in nearly every parish of the archdiocese, according to MPR, which based its own list on a review of other lists compiled by church officials, court records, private settlements, police reports and church documents.

MPR says the list included men who admitted abusing children, such as the Rev. Gerald Funcheon, who testified under oath in 2012 that he had sexually abused a number of boys. "I couldn't count 'em up," he said. "I'll go, I don't know. I'll go to 18 ... I can't give you a number on this."

Others include a man dismissed from the priesthood for child sexual abuse and several men named by other dioceses and religious orders as credibly accused offenders. One priest left off the archdiocese's official list, who retired from the priesthood at age 53, is now under criminal investigation for alleged child sexual abuse.

The failure to disclose the information led parishioners to believe for more than a decade that the clergy abuse crisis was not as widespread as the media had reported. Top church officials boasted about the number as proof that the archdiocese was among the safest in the nation. The lack of transparency also reduced the risk that a victim might recognize a priest's name and file a lawsuit.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, through a spokesman, declined MPR's interview request, and former vicar general Kevin McDonough, who compiled the list of 33, did not respond to its interview request.