MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: RANDY FURST , Star Tribune Updated: July 10, 2013
The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis discovered in 1966 that a priest was engaging in sexual contact with boys, and that priest was assigned to four more parishes, according to documents.
The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis discovered in 1966 that a Minnesota priest was engaging in sexual contact with boys, but the priest was nonetheless assigned to four more parishes over the next 25 years, according to Archdiocese documents and information made public Wednesday.
The accused priest, John Brown, 92, who retired in 1991, said in an interview with the Star Tribune at his assisted living apartment in Maplewood that he “very, very vaguely” recalls fondling some boys in a locker room.
He was asked if he was sorry.
“I have to be sorry,” he said. “Wouldn’t anybody be sorry?”
Asked about other accusations of molestation, Brown appeared to contradict himself, saying “I don’t recall actually molesting,” adding, “If it happened I’d have to have remorse.”
A parent complained about Brown’s behavior to Archbishop Leo Binz in 1966, according to a 1992 memorandum by Rev. Kevin McDonough, the vicar general of the archdiocese. Attorney Jeff Anderson made the document public at a news conference Wednesday.
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