MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: July 9, 2014
The Rev. Joseph Wajda allegedly made one boy strip naked and bumped into his genitals.
Documents made public Wednesday in the ongoing sexual abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis show that a priest who allegedly abused boys was allowed to continue working as a priest and in an administrative role in the church.
One month after the Rev. Joseph Wajda was ordained in 1973, there was an allegation that he propositioned a young boy, and his alleged misconduct carried on for several more years, according to documents released by attorney Jeff Anderson.
“The Wajda documents show how current Archbishop of St. Louis Robert Carlson, while serving in roles including chancellor and auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the 1970s-1990s, along with other Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis officials, mishandled and minimized child sexual abuse allegations against Wajda,” said a statement from Anderson’s office.
A statement from the archdiocese was not immediately available.
Wajda, now 67, was permanently removed from ministry in 2003 and laicized in 2013. He lives in Minneapolis and has denied abusing children.
The archdiocese was court-ordered to produce thousands of pages of documents, including material chronicling Wajda’s alleged abuse, for a lawsuit filed by Anderson against the church and former priest Tom Adamson.
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