MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune MAY 23, 2015
Fallout continues to jolt Catholic institutions across Minnesota as a landmark law permitting lawsuits for older claims of clergy sex abuse marks its second anniversary this week.
Just last week the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis removed a priest from active ministry in Richfield — bringing to 69 the number of accused priests it has identified since the law was passed.
Earlier this month a young Hibbing priest was arrested and jailed for sexual misconduct with three girls, reflecting Catholics’ heightened awareness of contacting law enforcement, not just the church.
A Catholic nun and her religious order were sued last month by a Shakopee man for sexual improprieties, a sign of the law’s widening impact.
The current trial of former priest Francis Hoefgen in Dakota County — a rare criminal prosecution of a priest for child sex abuse — was sparked by an alleged victim emboldened by the new law.
“This is the biggest shake-up in the history of the Catholic Church in Minnesota,” said Charles Reid, a professor of civil and canon law at the University of St. Thomas. “The church has always been a powerful institution in the state — just look the height of the cathedral compared to the State Capitol. What we’re seeing is a humbling of that.”
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