MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal
Grant Gallicho October 13, 2014
At a press conference today, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, with attorney Jeff Anderson, announced the settlement of a sexual-abuse lawsuit that has rocked the Minnesota church for over a year. Plaintiff John Doe alleged that by failing to disclose information about predator priests, both dioceses had created a public nuisance. This is the first time a diocese has settled such a suit. The full terms of the agreement remain unclear (financial terms have not been made public), but both dioceses have agreed to implement a set of seventeen protocols governing their response to cases of accused priests.
Several of the protocols simply require the dioceses to maintain policies they already have, such as not reassigning credibly accused priests and providing regular abuse-awareness training to staff and volunteers. (A credible allegation is one that is not “manifestly false.”) But the protocols go further. Both dioceses agreed to make public the personnel files of accused priests (after a canonical proceeding has concluded). They also agreed to publish the names not only of accused priests, but also the names of priests who are taken out of ministry “under circumstances that arise, in whole or in part, out of accusations or risk of sexual abuse of a minor.” Perhaps most surprisingly, the diocese agreed to obtain signed statements from every priest affirming that he has not sexually abused any minors, and that he has no knowledge of abuse committed by any other priest or employee of the diocese.
Some have expressed skepticism about the plan. First, how will the protocols be enforced? Second, to what extent does this make priests responsible for the crisis? “I want to express my gratitude to the many good priests of this archdiocese,” said Jennifer Haselberger, Archbishop John Nienstedt’s former top canon lawyer who went public last with her concerns about the way he and others were handling the crisis. “I fear that the burdens of this agreement will fall disproportionately on them, rather than on those whose leadership, or lack thereof, brought us to this end,” according to her statement. “This settlement is a heartbreaking acknowledgment of how far the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has strayed from its mission.”
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.