MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: October 7, 2013
Diocese official could have done more to protect her sons from clergy sexual misconduct, she says.
A day after Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba told parishioners that he is “completely committed” to assisting victims of clergy sexual misconduct, a St. Paul mother accused him of participating in a coverup involving a priest who abused two of her boys.
“There’s nothing Catholic about it. There’s nothing Christian about it. There’s nothing decent about it,” the mother said Monday in an interview with the Star Tribune.
She was referring in part to a phone call she received from Sirba in 2009, when he was vicar general of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. She said Sirba called her after learning that one of her boys had gone camping alone with the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, who later was convicted of sexually abusing the child and his brother. The mother said Sirba told her to make sure another adult was present on any future trips — but that he said the gist of his message was that supervision was needed to protect priests from the appearance of scandal.
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