MINNESOTA
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Lawyers seek decades-old church records on late St. Paul priest linked to sex abuse scandals
By Marino Eccher, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
July 31–Records of what the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis knew about sexual misconduct within its ranks decades ago are critical to show a pattern of negligence, attorneys suing the church argued Wednesday.
But the archdiocese said those requests go beyond the scope of what the plaintiffs are entitled to.
The arguments before a Ramsey County district judge concerned a lawsuit about the late Rev. Thomas S. Stitts.
The lawsuit alleges abuse inflicted by Stitts occurred at St. Leo the Great Church in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul when the plaintiff, an altar boy, was about 14.
Other lawsuits claim that Stitts sexually abused boys in the 1960s and 1970s and that the church should have known about it and done more to prevent it.
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