ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio
By SHULA NEUMAN
The St. Louis Archdiocese is defending statements that Archbishop Robert Carlson made during his deposition one month ago in a priest sex abuse lawsuit in Minnesota.
On Monday, video of Carlson’s deposition was released in which he repeatedly said he was uncertain if he knew during his time as auxiliary archbishop in St. Paul that a priest engaging in sex with a child was a crime. Today, the Archdiocese released a statement saying that the video took Carlson’s statements out of context.
In a statement, the Archdiocese said:
“During a press conference held on June 9, 2014, Plaintiff’s lawyer strategically took Archbishop Carlson’s response to a question out of context and suggested that the Archbishop did not know that it was a criminal offense for an adult to molest a child. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The statement goes on to point out that even though current Minnesota law makes it a crime for members of the clergy not to report suspected child abuse, that statute did not go into effect until 1988, after the events for which Carlson was being deposed.
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