MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal
By TOM CORRIGAN
July 20, 2016
Criminal prosecutors in Minnesota won a rare admission of wrongdoing from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which conceded it protected a priest who was later convicted of sexually abusing children.
“We failed,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said Wednesday. “Those children, their parents, their family, their parish and others were harmed. We are sorry. I am sorry.”
The admission is a victory for prosecutors and for clergy abuse victims who have long pressed for a mea culpa from the archdiocese. Acknowledgment of wrongdoing was absent when the archdiocese settled related civil charges last year.
“Today that missing piece has been provided by the archdiocese,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi on Wednesday, calling the admission “a solemn moment for our community.”
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