MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/24/2014
“In the Roman collar, he has a chance to meet kids.”
That was the conclusion in 1973 of a senior Catholic official from Massachusetts regarding the Rev. James R. Porter. The official, the Rev. Msgr. Hugh A. Gallagher, was writing in favor of Porter’s dismissal from the priesthood.
In fact, Porter had plenty of chances to meet children — in Oakdale, Bemidji, Minn., Massachusetts and other locations, becoming one of the most notorious priest pedophiles in the United States.
One of those children was in second grade when she and a brother were molested by Porter during his 1969-1970 assignment at St. Philip’s Catholic Church in Bemidji.
Linda Carroll, now 51, of Aitkin, on Wednesday became the first Minnesota woman to disclose her identity as a survivor of Porter, who was largely known to sexually abuse boys, according to her attorney, Jeff Anderson.
Anderson filed a lawsuit Tuesday on her behalf in Polk County, naming the Diocese of Crookston, Minn., the Servants of the Paraclete (which treated Porter for pedophilia) and the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., as defendants.
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