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	Archdiocese Fights Release of Accused Priest List By John Croman KARE April 9, 2009 http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=598027&catid=14 [with video] ST. PAUL, Minn. -- An attorney for molestation victims squared off with lawyers from the Catholic Church Wednesday over a list of priests accused of sexual abuse. "I'm concerned about the kids right now, today, in our communities in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and in the Diocese of Winona," Jeff Anderson told reporters outside the Ramsey County Courthouse. Anderson has devoted at least two decades of his legal career taking clergy to court in lawsuits filed by adults who were victimized as children. The list in question includes 33 priests the Archdiocese identified internally in 2004 as facing "credible accusations of abuse of minors." Also in dispute is a list of 13 accused priests the Diocese of Winona created the same year. Anderson's seeking to release all 46 names to the public immediately, as a means of warning parents in the cities where those clergy now reside. "I'm most disturbed because the children are still at risk, because every one of these offenders are still in the communities." The Archdiocese asked the court to keep the list under wraps for now in order to protect some of the priests who may have been falsely accused. The church asserts 23 of the names on its list became known in previous lawsuits, and that the names of the 10 other priests shouldn't be made public unless there's a more thorough investigation. "Just as the law provides protection for all of us from unproven accusations," an official statement from the Archdiocese read, "We believe it wrong for the information to be disclosed until the judge who will hear this evidence decides it should be released." Adamson Case The disputed roster has bearing on a pending case brought by an Anderson client known to the court as "Joe Doe 76c" against former priest Tom Adamson. In 1990 Adamson lost a landmark lawsuit, after admitting to a long history of abusing children as he moved from one parish to another in Minnesota. Because he was never criminally convicted Adamson would not be covered by the community notification laws that apply to registered sex offenders. "And we located him last year living in Lacrosse in a job and working in a community where nobody knew that he was a serial predator," Anderson remarked. Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath told KARE the term "credible accusation" used by the church in 2004 was never meant to imply all the accusations had merit. He said the list of 33 was compiled for a study done in 2002 by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the request of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. Researchers asked dioceses throughout the U.S. to tally up allegations of sexual abuse of minors between 1950 and 2002. McGrath said for purposes of that study the term "allegation" was defined as "any accusation that is not implausible." That's not the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard of proof used in criminal cases, nor is it the "preponderance of evidence" threshold applied in civil verdicts. In light of that, McGrath said it would be unfair to apply a blanket label of "child sex abuser" to all 33 priests on the list. Civil Battleground In most instances of alleged abuse the statute of limitations on criminal charges expires before the victims step forward, so the fact finding is done in civil cases. "The bottom line is every time we get the information about offenders we make it known," Anderson said, "The bottom line is every time they get the information they keep it secret." The Archdiocese, in its written statement, countered that "Jeff Anderson appears bent on distracting the public from all the good work done by the Archdiocese in this area by dwelling on events that have occurred over some time ago." The judge hearing Wednesday's argument took the issue under advisement. Trial in the case of Joe Doe 76c is set to begin in June.
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