MINNESOTA
Fox 9
[with video]
Posted: Jul 22, 2014
video report by Tom Lyden
Pressure is building on Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign as the latest sexual abuse lawsuit brought against a priest makes its way through the legal system — and it’s raising an interesting question.
What’s unusual about the case against Father Thomas Adamson is that the victim’s attorneys are arguing that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is a public nuisance because it failed to protect children. That contention has given them pretty wide latitude in the discovery process — but a judge is still considering that rationale even as he allows the case to move forward to trial.
“Nuisance is the anchor that we have to expose the painful truth,” Jeff Anderson said.
Adamson chillingly has admitted to molesting more than 20 boys. On Monday, a Ramsey County judge decided that one victim, identified only as John Doe, deserves his day in court.
In 1975, Adamson came to St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park, Minn., from the Winona Diocese. By then, he had already molested boys and was in therapy, but the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis claims it was unaware of any of that until 1980.
“There are no documents to show that the archdiocese knew Adamson was a bad guy, to put it very bluntly,” Thomas Wieser, attorney for the archdiocese, told Fox 9 News.
Except maybe for Exhibit 23 — a 1984 letter from Bishop Watters of Winona to then-Archbishop Roach. In it, Watters writes, “I am very sorry Father Adamson’s many talents continue to be compromised because of his involvement with juvenile males.”
MORE: Exhibit 23 on Scribd
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.