NORTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, Oct. 23
Statement by Barbara Dorris of SNAP (314 503 0003)
A Catholic priest from Bismarck has been “outed” today for the first time as a credibly accused child molester. We call on North Dakota Catholic officials to warn parents, parishioners and the public about him and to beg anyone with information or suspicions about him to call law enforcement immediately.
[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis]
In a joint announcement by a law firm and the St. Paul archdiocese, Fr. John Owen is one of three priests whose names are being disclosed today for the first time as having “substantiated claims against (him) of sexually abusing a minor.” The revelations come as part of a settlement of a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit announced last week (John Doe 1 vs. Fr. Thomas Adamson and the St. Paul archdiocese).
More about Fr. Owen is here:
[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis]
We applaud Doe for insisting that more names of predator priests are disclosed as a result of his courageous litigation. And we denounce Bismarck Catholic officials who apparently have kept silent about the accusations against Fr. Owens for almost a decade. (Twin Cities church officials say they “removed his faculties” in 2005. We strongly suspect that even before then they alerted their North Dakota colleagues about these allegations against Fr. Owens.)
We urge Bismarck’s bishop to “come clean,” explain why he and his colleagues have hidden these allegations, and to fire or at least demote every single Catholic employee who endangered kids by keeping quiet about them.
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