MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Dan Kraker Duluth · Nov 16, 2015

For the first time, attorneys involved in sexual abuse cases against priests have released internal documents from the Diocese of Duluth.

The documents were exhibits in a recent civil lawsuit against the diocese in which a jury awarded nearly $8.2 million to a survivor of clergy sex abuse. They pertain to four priests who served in the Duluth diocese in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. All four have since died.

Attorney Michael Finnegan, who represents several plaintiffs in clergy sexual abuse cases, said they appear to show that the Duluth diocese was willing to give a second chance to clergy who had been sent to facilities that treat priests accused of sexual abuse.

“These documents alarm us,” Finnegan told reporters in Duluth, “and make us very, very concerned that there are a number of survivors in this…