MINNESOTA
Enquirer-Herald
BY AMY FORLITI
Associated PressDecember 4, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS — Nearly half the parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have been served by priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor.
In an email sent Wednesday to priests and parish leaders, the archdiocese said 92 parishes have had at least one accused priest assigned to them at some point. The email, obtained by The Associated Press, was designed to brace parish leaders for Thursday’s disclosure of the names of at least 29 priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
There are currently 188 parishes in the archdiocese, which serves about 825,000 Catholics. There were 213 parishes in 2010, before several merged.
The affected parishes were notified in a separate email. The main email offers reassurances to others, saying if they didn’t receive a notification, “that means that none of the men who will be disclosed this week were ever assigned at your parish in the past.”
The number isn’t shocking, said Mike Finnegan, an attorney who has worked on several clergy abuse cases.
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