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Victim of Priest Calls Release of Names "Bittersweet"

By Kay Fate
The Post-Bulletin
December 17, 2013

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/crime/victim-of-priest-calls-release-of-names-bittersweet/article_a091d0a6-a37c-5ad9-b48c-becc308a7ada.html

Jim Keenan was 13 years old and small for his age, standing just 4 feet 8 inches tall in eighth grade, when he was chosen for a special honor at Church of the Risen Savior in Burnsville: serving as altar boy for the first-ever Mass at the church.

He didn't realize it at the time, but he also had been chosen by the priest, and became the latest in a long line of men who say the priest, Thomas Adamson, sexually abused them.

Keenan has claimed the priest abused him for about a year in the early 1980s. Adamson, now 80 and a resident of Rochester, has been named in many suits but never faced charges because of the statute of limitations. He was defrocked in 1984.

So Keenan, now 46, set his sights on the Winona Diocese, which he simply claimed moved Adamson around when allegations of abuse surfaced at parishes where he served.

As a result of that lawsuit, the diocese on Monday released a list of 14 priests that it says have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Adamson was one of the priests named Monday.

"I'm really happy that the names have been released," Keenan said Monday, "but it's bittersweet, because they're being forced to do it. They haven't recognized and taken ownership of the fact that they did it wrong."

Adamson was accused of abuse before Keenan was even born; according to court documents obtained by Keenan's attorney, the first family came forward in 1964, in Rochester.

"Part of me feels sorry for him," Keenan said of Adamson. "He was just put in the same situation over and over and over again, and he got no guidance from the people who should have been guiding him."

Keenan didn't come forward until 2002. Now a child psychologist, he "kind of had a meltdown and it all came tumbling out."

John Doe 76C

For the first nine years of his lawsuit against the diocese, Keenan was John Doe 76C.

"When we figured out we were going to go to the Supreme Court — and the church sued me back after (the case) was thrown out the first time — I just decided right then it was time to be Jim Keenan and stand up," he said. Even as the case wound its way through various courts, "a lot of my friends didn't know it, and they were pretty surprised, but it's amazing how much support is out there."

His decision was absolutely the right one, Keenan said.

"I met a victim who came forward after seeing me speak on the news one time, and that was one cool moment," he said, though he still gets nervous speaking out about it.

"I keep telling myself, no tears today, no tears today, no tears today," he said of interviews. "It still can get pretty raw, pretty quickly. But I want other victims to know that as hard as it is to stand up and say this happened and work through it, the other side is phenomenal.

"Hopefully, they'll allow themselves to understand that the power that they can take back is theirs," Keenan said. "That they can stand up and say yes, I was abused, and no, it doesn't define me anymore."

That revelation, he admitted, came after a lot of therapy and self-examination, and with a lot of support, "but until you say it and put it out there, it's never going to be fixed. By being quiet, people might think they're protecting themselves, but what they're really doing is letting a really, really terrible event continue to have power and dictation over their life."

Hoping for change

While Keenan said he hopes the lawsuit brings more transparency to the church, he said he believes success will be measured when church officials follow the law of society over canon law, bringing law enforcement in when accusations are leveled.

"It's such an easy fix," he said. "In my eyes, as a victim, if the hierarchy of the church ... would just stand — and not in their big cloaks or their fancy hats or their sheep-herding staff — and just honestly say, from their hearts, 'we messed this up. There's no excuse, we did it wrong, we continued to do it wrong and we dug ourselves a hole. We're going to follow mandated reporter laws. End of story. Anytime we're informed of a potential abusive act, we are not going to investigate, we're going to call 911.'

"I want to know why in our society, we're not holding them to a legal accountability."

Contact: kfate@postbulletin.com

 

 

 

 

 




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