MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Jul 15, 2014
Updated 3 p.m.
Whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger, whose revelations of a clergy sexual abuse cover-up have rocked the Twin Cities archdiocese for the past 10 months, disputed the sworn testimony of Archbishop John Nienstedt in a damning 107-page affidavit filed as part of an abuse lawsuit Tuesday.
In her sworn statement, the former archdiocese chancellor also accused top church leaders of a “cavalier attitude” towards the safety of children, and contradicted sworn testimony by former top church deputies Peter Laird and Kevin McDonough and archdiocese attorney Andrew Eisenzimmer.
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The affidavit comes at a critical time in a massive clergy sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona by attorney Jeff Anderson.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of a man who says he was sexually abused as a child by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the 1970s, alleges the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret. Church lawyers have asked Ramsey County Judge John Van de North to dismiss the lawsuit, and a hearing is scheduled for next Monday.
The case has already forced the depositions of Nienstedt, former Archbishop Harry Flynn, St. Louis archbishop Robert Carlson, and other top officials. It’s also required church officials to turn over more than 60,000 pages of internal documents. Van de North had ordered church officials in December to disclose the names of abusive priests, as well.
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