MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Jul. 15, 2014
After weeks of depositions from top officials exposing how they handled abusive priests and allegations that arose in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese, sworn written testimony from a former chancellor pulled back the curtain further to reveal a system “far, far from best practice.”
In a 107-page affidavit made public Tuesday, Jennifer Haselberger — the canon lawyer whose leaking of documents and files promulgated the region’s current abuse scandal — disputed the accounts of her former coworkers and described in compelling detail the mistakes, oversights and omissions she witnessed during her tenure as chancellor of canonical affairs.
At one point, Haselberger characterized the archdiocese as having a “cavalier attitude towards the safety of other children.”
The affidavit, released by attorney Jeff Anderson, was taken in relation to the John Doe 1 lawsuit against the Twin Cities archdiocese, the Winona, Minn., diocese and former priest Thomas Adamson. The next hearing is set for Monday. Anderson, pursuing a public nuisance charge against the archdiocese, told NCR the sworn statement is “a powerful recitation of whistleblowing and truth telling.”
Among Haselberger’s revelations:
A perceived pattern of incomplete investigations of sexual misconduct by Setter and Associates, a private firm frequently hired by the archdiocese, including in the Fr. Jonathan Shelley pornographic images case;
A lax application of policies outlined by the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People by former vicar general and safe environment delegate Fr. Kevin McDonough: “While he occasionally gave lip-service to these principles, he never accepted them and often failed to apply them”;
As of April 2013, the archdiocese had not secured the “essential three” forms required by the charter (background check, VIRTUS training, signed Code of Conduct) for all diocesan priests, and struggled to renew background checks;
Charter auditors have never been allowed to access clergy records “to determine if the data matched what we
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