MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Dec. 18, 2015
The St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese will be subject to judicial oversight by local authorities for the next three years to certify compliance with a series of provisions aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse, under the terms of a new civil settlement announced Friday.
The agreement, presented in district court by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the archdiocese, concludes the civil aspect of charges Attorney John Choi brought this summer against the local church; the criminal case, which includes six misdemeanor charges each carrying $3,000 fines, is ongoing, Choi said during a press conference.
But he emphasized several times the importance of the “unprecedented and landmark civil settlement,” which he said goes beyond the impositions that a court could have enacted under child protection laws. The agreement establishes two independent audits in 2017 and 2018 to ensure compliance; if the archdiocese is found noncompliant, it will an opportunity to correct deficiencies before the matter proceeds to the courts. At the end of the agreement, the attorney’s office agrees to dismiss the civil action.
With the archdiocese having filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, the agreement must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which the archdiocese said could come at a hearing early next year.
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