MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Aug 4, 2014
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has acknowledged that at least 103 priests have been accused of child sexual abuse — more than three times the number previously disclosed to the public in December.
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• Accused priests: Who they are, where they served, what’s alleged
• July 22: Ramsey Co. judge rules clergy sex abuse case may go to trial
The total includes the 34 priests “credibly accused” of abuse whose names Ramsey County Judge John de North ordered the archdiocese to release in December.
The disclosure of the full list came in a court document referenced by a victim’s attorney at a Ramsey County District Court hearing today. The total number of archdiocesan priests accused of child sexual abuse had not previously been reported.
For months, lawyers for the archdiocese have argued aggressively that many priests have been falsely accused and that their names should not be released. Van de North agreed last year to place the names of the so-called “non-credibly accused” priests under seal. He appointed a special master to oversee requests to unseal names and address other disputes.
But it remained unclear how many priests’ names had been sealed.
In an interview after the hearing, archdiocese lawyer Tom Wieser declined to explain how the archdiocese determines whether an allegation is credible. He also declined to say whether the archdiocese has reported every allegation to police.
Over the past eight months, the archdiocese has released another 14 names of priests whose abuse allegations it describes as “substantiated.” It’s not clear whether those names are among those sealed by the judge.
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