Lawsuits Affect Area Dioceses, by Stephen J Lee, Grand Forks Herald, March 29, 2010

Lawsuits Affect Area Dioceses

By Stephen J. Lee
Grand Forks Herald
March 29, 2010

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/155913/

NORTH DAKOTA -- The St. Paul attorney who is suing the Vatican also has filed lawsuits recently against the Catholic dioceses of Fargo and Crookston, alleging sexual abuse by priests.

Jeffrey Anderson's law firm has filed four suits against the Fargo diocese alleging that Raimond Rose, who as a Christian Brother taught at Shanley High School in Fargo from 1976-80, sexually molested students and that diocesan officials knew Rose had been accused of molesting students at Catholic schools in the Twin Cities before he was hired at Shanley.

In this March 25, 2010 file photo, Attorney Jeff Anderson discusses Catholic Church records concerning sexual misconduct allegations during a new conference at Anderson Law Offices in St Paul, Minn. A photo of accused priest Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974, appears on the monitor to the left. Anderson has sued thousands of priests and won tens of millions of dollars for his clients in sex-abuse settlements, but he has had a bigger goal in mind for nearly two decades. He wants to bring his career-long legal crusade against misconduct in the Roman Catholic Church right to the top.
Photo by Craig Lassig

A spokeswoman for the diocese said recently that no one had come forward to the diocese to report abuse by Rose.

One of the alleged victims of Rose at Shanley, Bryan Sandness, is a former Marine sergeant who says Rose got him drunk during a school trip in Fergus Falls, Minn., in about 1978 when Sandness was 15 and then sexually molested him. Three other victims of Rose from more than 30 years ago have come forward recently to sue the Fargo diocese, said Bob Schwiderski, Minnesota president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which works closely with Anderson's firm. There are about a half dozen or more lawsuits against Catholic officials in Minnesota concerning Rose, too, Schwiderski said. Rose now lives in Chicago.

Anderson's law firm also sued the Crookston diocese in July on behalf of a woman who said the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul sexually assaulted her in 2004 when she was 15 in her home church in Greenbush, Minn. The woman is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

Jeyapaul, a "loaner" priest to Crookston, returned to his native India in 2005 and never returned. Diocesan officials didn't learn about the girl's allegations until 2006, when a criminal complaint was filed in Roseau County, a diocesan official told the Herald.

The diocese offered the girl counseling and other help and cooperated with the prosecutor in Roseau County in preparation of the criminal charges against Jeyapaul, diocesan officials said. The Roseau County attorney confirmed the diocese had provided information about Jeyapaul.

The criminal charges against Jeyapaul had been sealed until the woman filed a civil lawsuit last summer.