New charges of lax handling of abuse complaints in Minnesota archdiocese

July 16, 2014

In a lengthy and detailed affidavit, a former official of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese has testified that Church leaders took a “cavalier attitude” toward sex-abuse policies.

Jennifer Haselberger, who has become an outspoken critic of the archdiocese since resigning her post as a canonical official last year, detailed her complaints in a 107-page document. She said that archdiocesan officials failed to monitor priests who had been accused of abuse, tilted heavily toward the accused priests in investigating complaints, and told her not to “look under rocks” in her own investigations.

Haselberger said that most priests of the archdiocese had not been given background checks, and priests accused of abuse were placed in administrative posts, in violation of the US bishops’ guidelines. Archbishop Harry Flynn, who headed the St. Paul archdiocese until his retirement in 2008, was the chairman of the US bishops’ committee responsible for implementing those guidelines.

 

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Further information:

• Catholic church lawyer details cover-up claims on sex abuse (AP)
• Whistleblower accuses Twin Cities archdiocese of host of misdeeds related to clergy abuse (Pioneer Press)
• Insider: Archdiocese had ‘cavalier attitude’ about clergy abuse cases (Star Tribune)