MINNESOTA
Fox 9
Updated: Oct 07, 2013
by Lindsey LaBelle
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) –
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it will create its own task force to investigate its handling of alleged priest misconduct, but critics are demanding more transparency.
New criticism emerged regarding how the church handled alleged sexual abuse by priests, and last week, the top deputy at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resigned. However, the Archdiocese says Rev. Peter Laird’s resignation has nothing to do with the sexual abuse reports or St. Paul Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer’s imprisonment for abusing two boys and possessing child pornography.
The independent task force will review issues related to clergy sexual misconduct and make recommendations for future action and policies.
The Archbishop appointed a new Vicar for Ministerial Standards, Fr. Reginald Whitt, a Dominican priest from the University of St. Thomas School of Law, to assume full responsibility for all issues related to clergy sexual misconduct. The task force will have at least six members, all are lay people but none are employed by the Archdiocese. They’re expected to be formally appointed on Wednesday.
The task force will complete the following during the investigation:
1. Review all documents of the Archdiocese related to policies and procedures for responding to and preventing sexual misconduct
2. Interview current and former staff members and others at its discretion, including victims and clergy accused of sexual misconduct
3. Prepare a report to the Vicar for Ministerial Standards that will recommend actions to be taken by the Archdiocese
SNAP UNLEASHES CRITICISM
The Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) revealed its doubts with the task force and will meet Monday asking for church officials to “come clean” about every sexual misconduct case within the Archdiocese, including names, photos and whereabouts of priests associated with misconduct on the archdiocesan and parish websites.
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