MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal
By TOM CORRIGAN
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and representatives for several hundred alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse are at odds over a seven-minute video that victims want to play following Mass in all 187 of the archdiocese’s parishes.
The video, in which three alleged abuse victims appear, urges others to come forward and file claims against the archdiocese ahead of an Aug. 3 deadline. Filing formal claims is a critical step for those seeking to share a court-brokered settlement with the archdiocese and its insurance carriers.
Lawyers for alleged victims have asked Judge Robert Kressel of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Paul, Minn., to approve a motion that would send the video to all parishes and request that they play the video “in connection with each Mass service” on July 11 and July 12. The request stops short of asking the judge to explicitly order parishes to play the video.
According to victims’ lawyers, this is the first time any victims’ group has ever requested a diocese to include an outreach video during its weekend worship. The group’s filing says “a more personal, multimedia video presentation setting forth details of the relevant deadline in layman’s terms would greatly increase the likelihood of providing actual and effective notice to potential sexual abuse claimants.”
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