MINNESOTA
St Cloud Times
Times Editorial Board
What will Catholics, pope do now that they know Minneapolis archdiocese let clergy abuse continue for decades?
What would you do if you just discovered the highest-ranking leaders of an organization you thoroughly believe in have for almost 30 years misled everyone to cover up crimes of their front-line leaders?
Catholics across Minnesota — along with the Vatican and even Pope Francis — need to be asking themselves that question about the the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul in the wake of astounding news reports this month from Minnesota Public Radio.
Yes, astounding.
“Betrayed by Silence” uses online reports and a radio documentary to detail how three archbishops — John Roach, Harry Flynn and now John Nienstedt — consistently told the public they were resolving clergy sex abuse while essentially doing the opposite.
As a five-part report posted Monday (http://bit.ly/1k8fiA6) shows, all three leaders routinely found ways to cover up, discredit and ignore an ever-growing number of cases against priests they supervised.
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