MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
[with audio]
Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Sep 18, 2014
Seeking to force St. John’s Abbey and the Diocese of St. Cloud to disclose information on priests and brothers accused of sexually assaulting children, attorney Jeff Anderson today filed suit against the two institutions.
The lawsuits, filed in Stearns County District Court, rely on the same legal strategy Anderson used in a landmark lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona. Anderson’s efforts in that case led a judge to order church officials to release a list of “credibly accused” priests and thousands of internal documents from clergy files.
Anderson’s latest suits accuse St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville and the Diocese of St. Cloud of creating a public nuisance by not releasing the names and files of all abusers. Anderson said their decision to withhold information continues to put children at risk.
In a statement, St. John’s Abbey officials dismissed Anderson’s claim as “absurd,” saying it “represents fear-mongering at its worst.”
However, those same officials are aggressively trying to keep some information secret. In another clergy sex abuse suit filed by Anderson against St. John’s Abbey, church lawyers on Wednesday notified the attorney that they plan to ask a judge to seal the files on individual monks so that they cannot be released to the public.
The Diocese of St. Cloud did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.