Archdiocese, County Attorney Reach Settlement in Child Sex Abuse Case

By Shaymus McLaughlin

St Paul Catholic Church  (Photo: Steve Moses, Flickr)

Civil charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will be stayed under a settlement agreement, which requires the church to implement new policies that protect children.

The settlement, filed in court Friday morning, was reached between the archdiocese and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, which brought criminal and civil charges against the church in June related to a sex abuse case. (Read the full agreement here.)

At a press conference Friday morning, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi called the settlement “groundbreaking,” saying it “ensures systemic change, and creates a framework of accountability” that increases oversight and transparency of the archdiocese.

It means a “cultural shift” in how the church will protect children and respond to sex abuse allegations going forward, Choi said.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, in a statement, said the church has been working toward one goal since he came on: “to make sure children are safe in our churches, schools and communities.”

“Let me assure you, much of what is in the new document are things we are already doing, while others are practices and procedures that are already working in some dioceses around the country,” the letter says. “We are agreeing to implement the plan under a set deadline and to be held accountable for that commitment.”

The settlement still has to be approved by bankruptcy court.

Parts of the settlement

The agreement, some of which Choi details in a news release, includes a number of changes to who gets notified when a priest is suspected of sexually abusing a child, as well as who gets a say in the follow-up.

Broadly, Choi said, it decentralizes the decision-making – instead of one or two church leaders deciding the next steps, all suspected cases will have to go before numerous people, including the Ministerial Review Board. The board, according to an archdiocese announcement earlier this year, must be made up mostly of people who aren’t members of the archdiocese.

The criminal case against the archdiocese is separate from the civil settlement, and is ongoing, Choi said, though also noted it is moving toward a resolution.

Choi also said the agreement reached was more detailed and wide-reaching than any ruling could have been if the civil case had been resolved in the courts.

“Whether it was by conviction or a verdict on the civil case, if we were to have prevailed, what the judge could have ordered as it relates to what the statute allows, or what criminal procedure allows, could never have been what is in this agreement.”

Hebda said a number of boards and high-ranking members of the archdiocese “agreed that this [settlement agreement] is the right thing to do to provide safe environments.”

The archdiocese will be subject to two independent audits over the next three years, which the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office will see the results of to make sure the archdiocese is following through on its promises agreed in the settlement, Choi said.

If the attorney’s office feels the archdiocese isn’t complying, it can put the church on notice – and if things continue to not be fixed, the case will go back back to the court system

CSA - Pedophile Papal Envoy Charged; Archbishop Resigns

The Vatican is to put its former envoy to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial on child sex abuse and child pornography charges.

Pope Francis has also accepted the resignations of a US archbishop and his deputy, accused in Minnesota of having ignored a priest's child abuse.

Jozef Wesolowski is accused of sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2013. He is under house arrest in the Vatican.

The trial is to begin on 11 July.

Wesolowki

Wesolowski, 66, is also charged with possession of child pornography, dating from his return to Rome in 2013.

The moves are seen as part of a crackdown by Pope Francis on clerics and employees of the Church who exploit minors.

Last year, the Pope compared the actions of those who commit such crimes to a "satanic mass".

He also strengthened the Vatican's laws against child abuse.

Defrocked

Wesolowski, who is originally from Poland, was recalled from the Dominican Republic in 2013, after allegations surfaced accusing him of abusing Dominican boys.

He had spent five years in the Caribbean country as the papal envoy.

He was defrocked in June last year after he was found guilty by a Church tribunal - he is the highest-ranking church official to be defrocked for such abuse.

He will now be tried by a Vatican criminal court.

A Vatican statement said the IT systems used by Wesolowski would be scrutinised.

He has been under house arrest in the Vatican since September.

The Vatican said at the time of his arrest that he had not been placed in a police cell because of his poor health.

If found guilty, he could face between six and 10 years in prison.

US resignations

The Vatican also accepted the resignations of an archbishop in the United States and his deputy following accusations that their archdiocese covered up the sexual abuse of children.

They are Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

John Nienstedt resigned as archbishop on Monday

John Nienstedt said in a statement that his leadership had drawn attention away from the good works of the church but stressed he was leaving "with a clear conscience".

Their resignation comes after prosecutors charged their archdiocese with "turning a blind eye" to repeated reports of inappropriate behaviour by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

Neither man was named in the indictment.

Prosecutors accuse the archdiocese of failing to respond to "numerous and repeated reports of troubling conduct" by Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest currently serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting two boys.