With St. Paul archdiocese settlement comes new child protection protocols

By Emily Gurnon And Kristi Belcamino
Pioneer Press
October 13, 2014

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_26718330/st-paul-archdiocese-priest-sex-abuse-victims-reach

Former priest Thomas Adamson during a May 2014 deposition

By Emily Gurnon and Kristi Belcamino Pioneer Press POSTED: 10/13/2014

Years ago, he was a young Minnesota priest -- and alleged rapist

A Ramsey County judge has signed the order dismissing a sweeping priest sexual abuse lawsuit, both sides announced Monday morning.

"Doe 1 has settled," plaintiff's attorney Jeff Anderson told reporters outside the chambers of Judge John Van de North.

The Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, vicar general of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, concurred. "It's good to be on the same side," he said.

Though financial terms will remain confidential, the parties will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Monday at the Landmark Center in St. Paul to announce what Anderson called a new set of "protocols ... to ensure transparency and child protection."

"As part of this historic settlement, 17 child protection protocols have been implemented by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona," Anderson said in a written statement.

Sources said Sunday that the landmark agreement not only settles Doe 1, which was slated to go to trial Nov. 3 but also covers hundreds of other alleged abuse victims who have been waiting in the wings with their own allegations.

"This feels to me like a new way and a new day," said Jeff Anderson, attorney for the victims. "There is a strict difference between policy and protocol and action, but they (archdiocese officials) are more committed to working with us than against us."

Lachowitzer and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens are expected to join Anderson and some of the victims at the joint news conference Monday.

Anderson spent most of Sunday contacting survivors and former and current clients.

In the lawsuit Anderson filed against the archdiocese and diocese, the victim, Doe 1, claims he was molested by Rev. Thomas Adamson.

In September, a Ramsey County judge made a landmark ruling in the case saying the law firm could proceed with a controversial claim that church leaders created a "public nuisance" by concealing information about Adamson.

Michael Finnegan, co-counsel with Anderson, has said that the case represented "the first time in the country that a public-nuisance claim against any Catholic diocese is going to trial."

That would have meant "a full public airing of all the current practices and everything they've done to the present to conceal and cover up child sex abuse," Finnegan said previously.

In December 2013, the judge forced the disclosure by the archdiocese and diocese of priests the church considered "credibly accused" of child sexual abuse.

In addition, the judge ordered the church to release sealed files of priests accused of child sexual abuse that the archdiocese and diocese in some cases considered to be unsubstantiated.

For the past year, Archbishop John Nienstedt has been under fire for his handling of the church abuse crisis after a former archdiocese chancellor for canonical affairs began leaking church papers that exposed missteps officials had taken in dealing with abusive priests.