MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
Written by
Lois Thelen
Times Writers Group
You know there’s a problem in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis when one of its priests in his Sunday homily says “It’s the first time, I must say, in 69 years that I’m embarrassed to be Catholic.”
During the past decade, some of its Roman Catholic priests have been accused of sexually abusing children and minors, frequenting areas known for men seeking anonymous same-sex encounters and having pornographic images on their computers.
Since last spring, the diocese has been under almost constant fire. Its former canon lawyer resigned after her entreaties to investigate a priest whose discarded computer possibly contained more than 2,000 images of child pornography were ignored. Several priests have been sued for sexual abuse by their victims. And most recently, the archdiocese’s vicar general, the Rev. Kevin McDonough, was accused of protecting priests to limit damage to the church. He has since resigned.
All this occurred despite the archdiocese being warned a decade ago to clean up its act.
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