MINNESOTA
Winona Post
(4/13/2015)
by CHRIS ROGERS
The Diocese of Winona (DOW) released the names of two more priests who were accused of sexually abusing children. Unless victims or witnesses divulge new information about past abuses or new abuses occur, those two names will be the last. The priests, Father Harold Mountain and Father Thomas Duane, both died years ago, and it appears that in both cases, victims approached the diocese after the priests’ deaths.
Mountain served in Winona, LaMoille, Minneiska, Minnesota City, Hart, and a variety of other southern Minnesota communities before retiring in 1989. He died in 2006. In 2011, an alleged victim contacted the diocese claiming that Mountain molested him as a boy.
Duane served in St. Charles and numerous other southern Minnesota towns before retiring in 1979. He died in 1993. In 2002, an alleged victim wrote to Bishop Harrington, claiming that Duane sexually abused her while she was growing up in Spring Valley, Minn.
The diocese released the information — and has released other allegations against priests — as part of a legal settlement with an anonymous victim who sued the diocese in 2013. Last fall, the diocese agreed to make all of its records of reported abuses public. With the release of the accusations against Duane and Mountain, diocese officials said they have made public all of the reports of child sex abuse they have. After the October 2014 settlement, officials began combing through the diocese’s personnel files to find any past allegations that would be required to be released. The claims against Mountain and Duane were the only new ones found in that process, according to DOW Director of Communications Joel Hennessy. Hennessy said that now parishioners have as much information about accused priests as the diocese does, and there will not be any further allegations to release unless new information is brought forward. “There was a complete review of all files. That’s been completed. At this point, we’re done,” he stated of the mandated release of information about abuse.
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