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	Church Says Group Accused Wrong Priest Alleged Abuser Was Reportedly 1 of 5 Clergymen Who Died in 1971 By Steve Scott Pioneer Press [Minnesota] March 30, 2005 Tensions flared again between a clergy sex-abuse victims group and Roman Catholic Church leaders in St. Paul over the identification of an alleged perpetrator who has been dead more than three decades. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis earlier this month revealed that one new alleged perpetrator of child sex abuse was identified last year but said it will not identify him because he is deceased. The Minnesota chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Tuesday named a priest it believes committed the abuse. The archdiocese vigorously defended the priest identified by Minnesota SNAP as innocent and called the group's actions "grossly negligent and irresponsible." "This is an outrageous falsehood that defames the name and career of a faithful and beloved priest," Archbishop Harry Flynn said in a statement. "It is beyond comprehension that anyone would be this irresponsible and callous." Belinda Martinez, survivor liaison for Minnesota SNAP, said the group identified the priest based on earlier reports that the recently accused priest died in 1971. The National Catholic Directory shows five priests in the archdiocese died in 1971. But archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said Tuesday that the year of the priest's death was an "approximation" made in an earlier interview and that the alleged perpetrator was none of the five who died that year. "If they (archdiocesan officials) offer another name, then we've made an innocent mistake trying to uncover the truth," Martinez said. "If they don't, then they've made an attempt to cover up the truth." No more than a half-dozen of the 195 dioceses in the United States have released a blanket list of names and work histories of clergy who abused children, other than acknowledging those already identified in news accounts. The archdiocese says it won't identify those who are deceased because they can't defend themselves. SNAP says all credibly accused priests should be identified, so that more potential victims may be encouraged to come forward and more affected parishes can receive assistance. "This response focuses again on protecting a perpetrator," Martinez said. "Their purpose is to protect predators as opposed to helping protect child victims." McGrath said the victim who last year identified the priest in question "simply wanted to report it, but had no interest in anything further. So what are you going to do? Label someone who's been dead for a long time as a pedophile based on one person saying this happened when there can't be any investigation after the fact?" The archdiocese in 2003 said 69 people in 50 years had come forward with credible allegations of child sex abuse involving 33 priests. Eighteen new victims came forward in the 14 months that ended in August, the most recent year surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. All but the one priest in question had been previously identified by other victims, and they are no longer in ministry, McGrath said. Both the archdiocese and SNAP have described their dealings as adversarial. SNAP maintains church leaders still act in secrecy, refuse to help change laws limiting legal action in old cases and won't meet with the group as a whole. Archdiocesan officials say they respond individually and pastorally to victims of abuse and affected parishes but decline to respond to events or news releases designed to attract media attention.
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