Diocese Responds to New Priest Molestation List

By Dan Nienaber
Mankato Free Press
August 5, 2014

http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/x1927908461/Diocese-responds-to-new-priest-molestation-list

A statement issued by the Diocese of New Ulm Tuesday repeated the organization's regrets for the "devastating effects of sexual misconduct on the part of clergy" but said nothing about why it is the only diocese in the state refusing to release a list of priests accused of molesting children.

The statement was a response to a list of eight priests released Monday by the Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm. The firm has been filing lawsuits throughout the state, including Brown County District Court in New Ulm, to have the priest lists made public. They were created for a 2004 bishop study to determine the scope of child sexual abuse by priests in the United States. Every other diocese and Catholic organization that created lists has made them public either voluntarily or in response to a court order.

An attorney with the Anderson firm, Michael Finnegan, said former Diocese of New Ulm Bishop John Nienstedt has publicly stated the New Ulm list has 12 priests on it. Finnegan doesn't know if the list of eight priests released Monday, which was created based on a deposition of a former diocese official, includes all or some of the names on the diocese's list. Nienstedt left the diocese to become archbishop of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese.

The diocese statement said seven of the eight priests named are dead and the remaining priest left the priesthood in 1983. It also said six of the eight names were already well known because they have appeared on websites tracking clergy sexual abuse.

Douglas Schleisman is the former priest who is still alive. The two priests whose names were not previously public are John Murphy and John Gleason. The five remaining dead priests are Vincent Fitzgerald, Michael Skoblik, David Roney, William Marks and Francis Markey.

Contact: dnienaber@mankatofreepress.com