MINNESOTA
The New York Times
By JULIE BOSMAN
OCT. 13, 2014
CHICAGO — Roman Catholic leaders in Minnesota pledged on Monday to enact new procedures to help protect children from sexual abuse by the clergy as they revealed some terms of the settlement for a lawsuit brought last year by a man who had been abused by a priest when he was a teenage altar boy.
Church officials and lawyers for the victim, known only as John Doe 1, described the settlement as a major step forward in how the church handles and investigates reports of sexual abuse. According to the settlement, if the archdiocese receives a claim of sexual abuse, it must alert law enforcement officials and wait until their investigation is complete before beginning its own.
The archdiocese also said it would not recommend any member of the clergy for an active ministry if there was a credible claim that he had sexually abused a minor.
At a news conference in St. Paul, Andrew H. Cozzens, an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, expressed his remorse to abuse victims and their families.
“I want to say I’m sorry this happened,” he said. “It shouldn’t have happened. We have heard your pain, and we are open to continuing to hear that.”
Patrick Wall, an advocate, former priest and lawyer who is employed by the law firm that represents the victim, said that in the near future, the people who initially deal with reports of sexual abuse would not be “the archdiocese’s lawyers or priests, but health care professionals” employed by a nonprofit.
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