MINNESOTA
Fox 9
[with video]
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The most detailed allegations made by canon lawyer-turned-whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger are now public. A 107-page affidavit released Tuesday accuses archbishops and senior staff of lying to the public and concealing evidence of alleged sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Haselberger pulled no punches as she detailed practices and decisions within the archdiocese that ignore the Catholic church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” and she was very thorough as she laid out what she knew about the sex, the secrets and the cover-ups.
‘Stop looking under the rocks’
Haselberger said she was told to “stop looking under rocks.” More specifically, she said the men at the top — Archbishop John Nienstedt and his former second in commands, vicar generals Peter Laird and Kevin McDonough — obstructed and ostracized her.
She said Nienstedt ordered his secretary to shred important documents under Haselberger’s desk, including some that later proved to be important — like financial records related to the marriage amendment campaign funding and the investigation by the campaign finance board.
Haselberger also described McDonough as an apologist for abusing priests, who believed in forgiveness, not zero tolerance.
Paper chase for problem priest files
Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008, she found the files of “nearly 20” priests who were guilty of sexual misconduct but were still in ministry. Those priests include Father Curtis Wehmeyer, who was allowed to live in a camper by the church, where he smoked marijuana and would go on to molest two boys. Also, Father Jonathan Shelley, who had alleged child pornography on his computer, but for 8 years the church did nothing.
According to Haselberger, most priests hadn’t had background checks since the early 1990s, despite the “industry standard” of background checks every 3 to 5 years. Furthermore, the archdiocese relied heavily on self-reporting by sexual misconduct offenders, “with very little effort made to verify if those reports were accurate.”
Furthermore, Haselberger said those priests who were accused of sexual misconduct joined a sort of shell game that allowed them to be quietly moved while the personnel records were scattered here and there.
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