Our View : Clergy Sex Abuse Settlement Holds Promise

St. Cloud Times
October 16, 2014

http://www.sctimes.com/story/opinion/2014/10/16/view-clergy-sex-abuse-settlement-holds-promise/17386389/

Attorney Jeff Anderson helped create the settlement involving sex abuse victims and the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul and the Diocese of Winona.

The recent landmark settlement between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona and sexual abuse victims is remarkable for its accomplishment and promise.

The accomplishment is a list of protocols agreed to by Roman Catholic church leaders and the lawyers for abuse victims.

According to an Associated Press news report, the protocols include:

• Church leaders won’t recommend a priest for active ministry or for a position working with minors if the priest has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

• Church leaders won’t conduct an internal investigation or “interfere in any way” with law enforcement investigations.

• Each clergy member will sign a declaration stating he has not abused a minor.

• The diocese must reveal the names of all abusers and all documents related to their cases.

• More details about the care the archdiocese is required to provide victims.

These and the other protocols in the agreement hold great promise in helping the victims of past abuse and preventing victims in the future.

Some of the points, including the one calling for each clergy member to declare he is not an abuser, raises the question of what happens if a clergyman refuses to make the declaration. What do the religious superiors do as next steps? Call in law enforcement? Ask detailed questions of the individual?

Further information on the process should be revealed.

The promise in the agreement is twofold.

• It may improve the credibility of religious leaders when they say they are taking steps to prevent future abuse and to help the victims.

• The agreement may serve as a model for other Minnesota dioceses and religious orders to pledge to honor the protocols. They could do this without the context of a lawsuit or criminal charges.

But the most important part of this latest chapter in the heartbreaking saga of priest abuse of children is that church leaders have to live up to the agreement.

Without that adherence, the entire agreement won’t be worth the paper on which it is written.