MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
A sexual abuse survivor and his attorneys plan to announce Thursday a civil lawsuit against the St. Cloud diocese seeking a list of priests credibly accused of abuse.
Robert Ethen and his attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Bryant will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Thursday at the law office of Bradshaw & Bryant, Waite Park. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon in Stearns County District Court.
Ethen of Sartell will discuss the abuse he said occurred in the mid-1960s by the Rev. James A. Thoennes, according to a statement from Anderson’s office.
Thoennes was named in a 2009 lawsuit. That lawsuit accused the diocese of failing to alert parishioners that Thoennes was accused of abuse. He instead was moved from parish to parish, it said.
The statement from Anderson’s office says the diocese admitted in 2003 there were 26 priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children, but no names have been released.
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