Posted on 10/24/2013 7:32:18 PM PDT by haffast
(Reuters) - The Roman Catholic archbishop of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese said on Thursday that serious mistakes had been made in the archdiocese's investigations of allegations of sex abuse by clergy and he has ordered a review of all of its files by an outside firm.
"To those who have been hurt, to the victims of clergy abuse and their family members, I can only tell you how sorry I am," Archbishop John Nienstedt said in the archdiocese's official publication. "I realize how damaging such actions are in violating the care of their human dignity."
But David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said Nienstedt's review plan would only result in more secrecy and his statement did not reveal the names of sexual predators.
"He knows who should look at these records, the cops," Clohessy said. "But he continues to act irresponsibly, to protect the predators and to endanger kids."
Nienstedt said there was "reason to question" whether the archdiocese's policies, procedures and practices for preventing and addressing clergy sexual misconduct were uniformly followed as well as the prudence of the judgments that were made.
"The first thing that must be acknowledged is that over the last decade some serious mistakes have been made," he said.
Nienstedt's statement follows St. Paul police reopening an investigation in October into whether a priest had child pornography on a laptop given to a parishioner and a police plea for victims of sexual abuse by priests to come forward.
It also follows Minnesota Public Radio reports about a former archdiocese lawyer who questions the handling of priests suspected of misconduct and accuses the archdiocese of failing to report possible child pornography evidence to law enforcement.
That lawyer, Jennifer Haselberger, has called on the archbishop to allow......
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(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
"It may be time for a do over with our archdiocesan leadership," Father Bill Deziel, pastor of the Church of St. Peter in North St. Paul, said in his Sunday bulletin, adding that "sometimes a fresh start is needed."
Deziel said the archdiocese must release its list of 33 priests it believes have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children and open its files to law enforcement, with the findings made public and charges filed if necessary."
Nienstedt denies any clergy sexual abuse cover-up, regrets 'lost confidence'
Minnesota Public Radio ^ | October 23, 2013 | Madeleine Baran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3082996/posts
Minnesota Sex Abuse Scandal Entangles University of St. Thomas; Leads to Clergy Resignations
Catholic Education Daily ^ | October 23, 2013, at 9:49 AM | Matthew Archbold
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3082990/posts
Church whistleblower says she 'didn't do enough'-(Haselberger)
AP ^ | 10-22-2013 | AMY FORLITI
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3082308/posts
Need to burn the blankets rather than send them from place to place.
Wow! They've got progressive dialog down pretty well.
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