Ex-archbishop says he can't recall handling cases

St. Cloud Times
June 4, 2014

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/minnesota/2014/06/04/ex-archbishop-says-recall-handling-cases/9970559/

ST. PAUL – Retired Twin Cities Archbishop Harry Flynn said at least 134 times under oath last month that he could not remember how he handled clergy sex abuse cases during his 13-year tenure, according to a deposition released Wednesday.

Flynn said he didn't have dementia or other diagnosed memory problems.

"I think it has more to do with age than anything," said the now-81-year-old Flynn, who retired six years ago.

Under questioning May 14, the former archbishop said he did not report any accusations of child sexual abuse to police and doesn't recall asking anyone else to report abuse claims, either, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/TehTvT ) reported.

Flynn testified as part of a lawsuit filed in 2013 by a man who says he was sexually abused by a former priest decades ago. The man claims the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on priests who are accused secret.

The broad claim has allowed the man's attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, to question archdiocese officials about decisions from the 1970s to the present. The archdiocese has also been forced to turn over thousands of internal documents on abusive priests.

Flynn led the national response to the clergy abuse scandal in 2002 and helped write the U.S. Catholic Church's policy on abuse. In the Twin Cities, where Flynn served as archbishop from 1995 to 2008, he reassured parishioners that he had taken tough steps to protect children from abusers.

In his deposition, Flynn said he didn't recall whether he received a list of offenders from his predecessor, the late Archbishop John Roach. He said he didn't know why he refused to release the names of priests "credibly accused" of child sexual abuse.

The archdiocese posted a redacted version of Flynn's deposition on its website but is not commenting on the deposition.

"It's testimony the archbishop gave under oath and it speaks for itself," archdiocese spokesman Jim Accurso told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Accurso said Flynn was not available for comment.