MINNESOTA
SF Gate
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt abruptly ended a court deposition about his handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations in St. Paul and Minneapolis, an attorney suing the church said.
Attorney Jeff Anderson said the four-hour hearing ended Wednesday after Anderson asked the archbishop to turn over files of offending priests to law enforcement, according to Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1mANVeE ).
Anderson represents a man who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the 1970s.
“The archbishop balked and refused, and as we urged him to consider doing that because it’s the only safe thing for the community to do — to turn it over to police — the deposition was terminated by the other side and they walked out,” Anderson said.
It was the first time since Nienstedt became archbishop six years ago that he has had to answer questions under oath regarding the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.