MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
[with videos]
Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Apr 24, 2014
Updated: 11:58 a.m.
In a deposition earlier this month, a longtime official for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis disputed Archbishop John Nienstedt’s sworn testimony on the clergy abuse scandal.
Nienstedt had testified April 2 that the Rev. Kevin McDonough told him not to write down sensitive information about abusive priests because the information could become public in a lawsuit. Nienstedt also said McDonough provided vague information on past cases and led him to believe that the archdiocese was safe for children.
Nienstedt deposition: “Were you concerned, Archbishop, that we shouldn’t make some recording…?”
Two weeks after the archbishop’s deposition, McDonough denied telling Nienstedt not to write down sensitive information. In a transcript released by the archdiocese Thursday, he said the description of the conversation wasn’t plausible. “He and I would have never been in a position for much casual conversation,” McDonough said. “Archbishop Nienstedt managed largely by memo.”
McDonough deposition: “If he did in fact characterize things… the way you’ve said them, I think he’s wrong” | Read the transcript
In a news conference held Thursday to discuss McDonough’s deposition, attorney Mike Finnegan asserted that “Countless children were put at risk in the 25 years that he was one of the top officials.”
• Transcript: Rev. Kevin McDonough’s April 16 deposition
McDonough served as vicar general for Archbishops John Roach and Harry Flynn and carried out their orders on clergy sexual abuse cases for 17 years. Under Nienstedt, McDonough oversaw the archdiocese’s abuse prevention programs until September 2013. For nearly three decades, he assured parishioners in dozens of interviews and personal conversations that the archdiocese was a national leader in fighting abuse.
However, an MPR News investigation last year found that McDonough helped both archbishops cover up clergy sexual abuse and failed to report some alleged sex crimes to police. It found McDonough advised against notifying parish employees of sexual misconduct by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, a priest now in prison for sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography. He also advised against reporting possible child pornography found on another priest’s computer, arguing that the images of children were not sexually explicit.
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