MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Apr. 28, 2014
Through six hours of testimony, Fr. Kevin McDonough did a little bit of everything. He corrected perceived inaccuracies, provided spellings of names, asked for clarifications and questions of his own, exchanged barbs with attorney Jeff Anderson, and even offered a compliment or two.
But more than anything, he steadfastly defended the decisions he made and his record on clergy sexual abuse during his almost 17 years as vicar general and six years as the delegate for safe environments of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese.
“During the period — and I know it personally only really from ’87, I believe that we got better and better at [protecting children] all the time. … I think this diocese was a real leader and worked very hard to — to protect children,” McDonough said.
The at-times-contentious deposition, taken April 16, related to the case of John Doe 1, the same litigation that brought Archbishop John Nienstedt for deposing 14 days earlier. Like Nienstedt’s testimony, both Anderson and the archdiocese published the full transcript on their websites.
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