2002 Document: Archdiocese Did Not Ask Abusive Priest for Names of Victims

By Brian Lambert
MinnPost
November 1, 2013

http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2013/11/2002-document-archdiocese-did-not-ask-abusive-priest-names-victims

The latest ethical blunder in the archdiocese's sex abuse scandal(s) … . Madeleine Baran of MPR reports: “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did not require an abusive priest to give the church the names of every child he sexually assaulted, according to a document obtained by MPR News. Top church official Rev. Kevin McDonough revealed the archdiocese's decision while responding to a man who reported in 2002 that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Robert Thurner years earlier. ‘I have no record that Father Thurner reported you as a victim, but we have not recently asked him to provide an exhaustive list,’ McDonough wrote in the letter, dated June 6, 2002. There is no indication that McDonough reported the man's allegation to police. Archdiocesan policy does not require church officials to report abuse to police if the victim is no longer a child.”

There’s a Kardashian angle in here somewhere … Chris Riemenschneider of the Strib says: “Kanye West’s hotly anticipated/gossiped-about concert Tuesday night at Target Center has been postponed, reportedly due to an accident involving one of the tour’s production trucks. No makeup date has been set yet, but one is expected. Fans are being told to hold onto tickets in the meantime. West has already canceled two prior dates on his ‘Yeezus’ tour for different production-related reasons. Today, his reps put three more cities on hold, also including Denver and Vancover. The tour was already earning ample attention from the media for its inclusion of Jesus as one of West's onstage partners. Let the act-of-God/divine-intervention theories fly. Hardly anything miraculous, this is actually the third time Ye has canceled on Twin Cities fans, counting the KDWB Jingle Ball in 2007 (a month after his mother’s death) and the Watch the Throne Tour with Jay Z in 2011 (when the itinerary was re-routed).” I don’t recall the Stones ever ditching a show here.

It’s a coming thing that is already happening … Martin Moylan of MPR writes: “Eden Prairie-based Stratasys, which makes the world’s largest installed base of industrial 3D printers, plans to expand its product line to include printers that build objects out of metal, not just plastic. The company’s machines, used by GE, BMW and Medtronic, lay down thin layers of molten plastic, to slowly build three-dimensional objects. ‘We are very seriously investigating the metal question, whether we want to be there, what is the right way to get there,’ said David Reis, CEO of the rapidly growing company.”

If St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman were a car, he’d be a BMW that got lightly keyed in his debate last night. Curtis Gilbert of MPR reports: “If Mayor Chris Coleman and challenger Tim Holden agree on anything, it's that Tuesday's election is a referendum on Coleman's two terms in office. But in an hour-long forum on MPR News — their one and only debate — they presented starkly different assessments of Coleman's record as mayor. … ‘As I sit here today, I don't know how Chris can sit across from me and say there are so many positive things going on, when there's a lot of negatives going on,’ [Holden] said. Holden pointed to a list of problems, including high unemployment among minority residents and the city's growing legal costs in cases of alleged police misconduct. … During the debate, Holden repeatedly questioned why the city attempted to award the design and construction contract for the ballpark to Ryan Companies without a competitive bidding process. ‘Why did you hand a contract to one specific contractor and not put it out to bid?’ he asked Coleman. ‘And the governor had to slap you on the wrist and put the process out to a bidding so it would be done fairly?’ ”

Xcel’s solar rebate program is getting a downgrade. Stribber Dave Shaffer says: “The popular Xcel Energy program to subsidize solar panels on Minnesota homes and businesses is slated for major changes next year that may make it less attractive to customers who install such systems. But Xcel said Thursday that it expects more people to take advantage of its Solar Rewards program even if incentives are reduced further in 2015 and 2016 as the company proposes.”

It’s not news that neither Al Franken or Mark Dayton is feeling competitive heat from any of their GOP candidates. But Rachel Stassen-Berger says in the Strib: “The first public poll in the 2014 races released this fall finds that 51 percent of Minnesotans approve of Franken's job performance and 48 percent approve of Dayton's handling of his job. While those numbers do not compare to the 59 percent approval rating Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has, making her one of the most popular senators in the country, they still show that more people like them than find them wanting. Adding to the good news for the Democrats: the poll showed that none of the Republicans running against either of the incumbents even comes close to besting them.” Eric Black has MinnPost coverage here.

Also from Stassen-Berger: “The DFL-supporting Alliance for a Better Minnesota took its mockery of a Republican candidate a step too far, it admitted on Thursday. In a Halloween-themed blog post, it suggested that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson should dress as Patrick Bateman, a serial killer in American Psycho, because he is ‘seemingly nice but actually pretty evil inside.’ Carrie Lucking, the group’s executive director, said within 10 minutes being alerted to the post they took the image down, removed the reference to Bateman and changed what it said about Johnson. … Lucking said she did not approve the post before it went up and had it removed once she saw it.” Never mind it was a dumb idea, but who even remembers “American Psycho”?

Let’s take a slow walk down anger mountain … Dan Nienaber of the Mankato Free Press reports: “A St. Peter High School science teacher, who has worked at the school for two decades, has been charged with malicious punishment of a child and assault for allegedly throwing a backpack at a student's head during a class. The incident was reported to a St. Peter police officer Sept. 27, a day after it allegedly occurred in Robert Shoemaker's ecology class. … The student, who was 17 at the time but recently had a birthday, said he wasn't feeling good and was tired, so he put his head down on his desk. Shoemaker, 53, had been talking during the slideshow but stopped talking after the student put his head down, the complaint said. The student reported he heard Shoemaker walk toward him before he was hit on the head with the backpack. Staff at the high school weighed the backpack after the incident and determined it weighed 11 pounds when it was thrown at the student's head, the complaint said. When the student lifted his head, Shoemaker was ‘in his face’ and yelling at him, he reported.”