MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
October 31, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did not require an abusive priest to give the church the names of every child he sexually assaulted, according to a document obtained by MPR News.
Top church official Rev. Kevin McDonough revealed the archdiocese’s decision while responding to a man who reported in 2002 that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Robert Thurner years earlier.
“I have no record that Father Thurner reported you as a victim, but we have not recently asked him to provide an exhaustive list,” McDonough wrote in the letter, dated June 6, 2002. There is no indication that McDonough reported the man’s allegation to police. Archdiocesan policy does not require church officials to report abuse to police if the victim is no longer a child.
“I do not know that my search of our records is going to be very satisfying to you,” McDonough wrote in the letter. “There may be many things we will never know.”
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