MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 23, 2015
An Aug. 3 deadline for filing claims against archdiocese prompts campaign
An unprecedented campaign to track down survivors of clergy abuse in the Twin Cities archdiocese is beginning in Minnesota.
Within days, the first legal notices will appear in newspapers across the state announcing, “You May Have a Claim Against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”
Letters already are in the mail to Catholics who have reported sexual abuse to the archdiocese over the years, telling them of a critical deadline for making a claim. Hundreds of notices to treatment centers, psychological therapists, parishes and schools are in the works.
The urgent message: Anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest in the archdiocese now or in decades past needs to step forward by Aug. 3 if they intend to seek compensation. The news is being blasted out by the church, by victims’ attorneys and survivors themselves.
“This will be unprecedented,” said victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson, whose law firm is spreading the word through its own campaign in social and traditional media.
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