MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
POSTED: 06/11/2014
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
The former priest and admitted pedophile named in a lawsuit that has disgorged thousands of internal church documents said in a deposition last month that no bishops or other officials had ever asked him how many children he had abused or who they were.
Thomas Paul Adamson, now 80, said he began abusing children in about 1961, when he was a priest at St. Adrian Church in southwest Minnesota.
He admitted in the May 16 deposition to sexually abusing one child there, a 14-year-old boy, though he was accused by others.
Attorney Jeffrey Anderson asked him to review a list of 37 other accusers and identify the ones he had abused. Adamson marked off nine other names with a highlighter.
He initially estimated there were “several” victims. Anderson asked if the number could be over 100, or over 50. Adamson said no.
“You’re not certain of the number, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Adamson said.
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