MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News
Leslie Hittner
It was refreshing to see the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul settle with attorney Jeff Anderson in his latest case involving the coverup of sexual abuse by Catholic priest, Thomas Adamson.
While the financial details of the settlement have not been made public, we can only hope that neither the diocese or archdiocese will be forced into bankruptcy to meet those financial obligations.
I am still concerned, however.
A central theme of Winona Bishop John Quinn’s response during the settlement announcement seemed to be the following:
“We are ashamed of the horrific crimes that Thomas Adamson has perpetrated against children in our Diocese and in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.”
Quinn, it seems, still does not understand what the lawsuit was about in the first place. This lawsuit was not about what Adamson did. It was about what the two dioceses did — or rather what they didn’t do. The lawsuits charged that the two dioceses, not Adamson, were “public nuisances” because of their responses to then Adamson’s behavior.
As horrific as Adamson’s crimes may have been, the fact remains that he was not reported to authorities by church officials. He was hidden from authorities and from parishioners for decades. Perhaps, even worse, the truths of the realities of his victims were denied by church officials. Attitudes that “little boys heal” prevailed within church leadership in justifying the illegal cover-up of these “horrific crimes.” And that attitude wrecked the very lives of Adamson’s victims.
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