MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
POSTED: 10/14/2014
“I pray that the darkness of the past be overcome by the light of this new day.”
— The Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, vicar general of the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
That new day should begin to pave the way for healing after Monday’s joint announcement of a legal settlement by archdiocesan officials and the lawyer for sex-abuse plaintiffs.
With it comes the hard work of restoring trust.
The church has been a central part of St. Paul’s identity from our city’s first days. After building the Chapel of St. Paul in 1841, “so delighted were the residents of Pig’s Eye with their first community institution that they rechristened the river settlement in its honor,” wrote Mary Lethert Wingerd in “Claiming the City,” the 2001 book that serves as a biography of the city.
This week, Pioneer Press columnist Ruben Rosario called the scene in a historic courtroom at Landmark Center an unprecedented public reconciliation.
A news conference brought together former adversaries — plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Anderson and church leaders — with victims. They stood side by side in announcing a legal settlement and a 17-point child-protection agreement.
Through the current suit, the Pioneer Press’ Emily Gurnon recounts, Anderson leveraged the disclosure of more than 50,000 pages of clergy personnel documents from the church, as well as sworn testimony from Archbishop John Nienstedt, former Archbishop Harry Flynn, former Vicars General Kevin McDonough and Peter Laird, and Robert Carlson, formerly with the Twin Cities archdiocese and now archbishop of St.
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