NORTH DAKOTA
Bismark Tribune
By Andrew Sheeler
The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Bismarck on Thurday named longtime Bismarck priest and disc jockey Father John Owens as one of 17 priests facing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.
The announcement comes as part of a settlement agreement with the law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, which represented alleged victims in the case.
The 85-year-old Owens now resides in Forest Lake, Minn., where he lives a life of atonement, according to a prepared statement released by the office of the Bismarck Diocese.
For nearly 40 years, Owens lived and worked in Bismarck, where he served as director of communications for the local diocese and also ran a weekly radio show on KFYR, “Padre’s Platters,” that reached out to area youths and discussed drugs, alcohol, acne, obesity, sex, teenage pregnancy and other problems, according to a Tribune article from June 2, 1982.
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