MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/23/2014
The Twin Cities archdiocese and the law offices of Jeff Anderson issued a joint statement Thursday disclosing the names of 17 priests with “substantiated” claims against them of sexual abuse of a minor.
The names bring to 55 the priests deemed to have substantiated claims of child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Ten of the 17 priests have died, “but the pain they caused is very much alive,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a written statement. “I am profoundly saddened and sorry for the harm clergy sexual abuse has caused victims and survivors, their families and the community.”
The joint statement comes 10 days after archdiocese officials and Anderson’s office, which represents victims of clergy sex abuse, held a joint news conference at the Landmark Center. They announced settlement of a lawsuit that had disgorged more than 50,000 pages of priest personnel documents going back decades and a new child protection plan.
The disclosures Thursday were part of the Oct. 13 settlement, Anderson said.
Four of the names have never been released to the public before, he said. Those are Robert P. Clark, Donald Dummer, Harry Majerus and John Owens. Dummer and Owens are still alive.
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