MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Date :Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Source: Jim Accurso
Consistent with the paramount goal of protecting children, the archdiocese has committed to the public disclosure of clergy members against whom claims of sexual abuse of a minor have been found to be substantiated.
The archdiocese has been clear and consistent in defining “credible” and “substantiated” claims of sexual abuse of a minor. Following the report made to appropriate law enforcement, the first step in our internal evaluation is to determine whether the claim is credible. A credible claim is one that is not manifestly false or frivolous. In other words, it is not blatantly false. Separate from our internal evaluation process, any claim whether credible or not, is immediately reported to police.
If the archdiocese determines that a credible claim exists, the archdiocese opens an investigation to determine whether a claim is substantiated. A substantiated claim is one for which sufficient evidence exists to establish reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged abuse occurred.
Following an initial disclosure of 30 clergy members in December 2013, the archdiocese publicly disclosed an additional 9 priests on February 17, 2014, following a comprehensive file review by Kinsale, an experienced outside national firm. Kinsale’s file review is ongoing and we will continue to make prudent and ongoing disclosures as we proceed forward.
In a February 19, 2014 on-line article, MPR states that the public disclosures made by the archdiocese are, to date, incomplete. In support of its position, MPR identifies a total of 28 clergy members who have not been publicly disclosed by the archdiocese and against whom MPR claims that it has “found allegations of child sexual abuse and other sexual improprieties.”
This statement is wrong and misleading. The 28 clergy members identified by MPR have not been publicly disclosed by the archdiocese because they do not, to date, constitute substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor. For context:
* The archdiocese has, to date, publicly disclosed 43 clergy members (39 of them having substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor). MPR incorrectly claims that an additional 28 clergy members should have been disclosed.
* At least 16 of the 28 clergy members identified by MPR were the subject of false, meritless or unsubstantiated accusations against them. And those accusations made known to the archdiocese after 2004 have been properly filed with Ramsey County District Court.
In addition to those individuals already disclosed to the Court, over 10 of the clergy identified by MPR are not from our archdiocese and the allegations against them concern alleged conduct that occurred outside of this archdiocese. In these cases, the accused clergy members are subject to the authority of other orders and dioceses and, consistent with the policy that we have previously announced to the public, the archdiocese does not have sufficient information or even jurisdiction to determine whether those foreign claims are credible or have been substantiated. As MPR correctly observes, several of these individuals have already been publicly disclosed by their respective dioceses and orders.
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