MINNESOTA
KARE
[with video]
ST. PAUL, Minn. – In an insider’s view of how the St.Paul Archdiocese handled priest sex abuse cases, a whistleblower documents claims of cover-ups, lies and the turning of a blind eye towards the safety of children.
In a scathing 107-page affidavit filed by Twin Cities attorney Jeff Anderson in the civil suit by a man known as Doe 1, canon lawyer Jennifer M. Haselberger, the former chancellor for canonical affairs at the St. Paul Archdiocese, describes a “cavalier attitude toward the safety of other people’s children.”
Haselberger was employed by the Archdiocese from 2008 to 2013. Her affidavit was filed Tuesday in Ramsey County. It describes the Archdiocese as being incredibly “reckless and irresponsible.”
In the case of Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer, Haselberger writes that in 2009 she notified the Archbishop about what she calls Wehmeyer’s “history of acting out sexually.” Despite the warning Archbishop John Nienstedt appointed Wehmeyer pastor at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul where he later sexually abused two boys. Wehmeyer pled guilty in 2012.
Feeling she was “out of options” with the church, Haselberger on two occasions called a friend who worked for the Ramsey County attorney’s office. Her affidavit reads like a road map for investigators, including footnotes where she describes a small light blue file about problem priests. She accuses church leadership of consistently “failing to investigate” allegations of reported sexual abuse and “not taking necessary precautions.”
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