(St. Paul) At a news conference on Tuesday, a sexual abuse survivor, together with his parents and wife, for the first time publicly explained why he continues to fight to force the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to disclose the identity of known pedophile priests.
According to the survivor, James Keenan, while litigating his civil lawsuit against the Archciocese, Keenan fought to force the Archdiocese to disclose the identity of known pedophile priests. Keenan explained that he fought to expose these offending priests in order to protect kids from being sexually abused by these known predators. Without public disclosure of these known pedophiles, parents cannot protect their children from these very dangerous men.
The priest who sexually abused him, Fr. Thomas Adamson, is believed by Keenan to be on that list and was a well-known pedophile when he sexually abused Keenan. Had the Archdiocese disclosed the identity of Fr. Adamson as a pedophile priest when the Archdiocese learned of his abusive actions, Keenan would never have been the victim of sexual abuse. Instead, the Archdiocese maintained its knowledge about Fr. Adamson in secret, which put a number of children, including Keenan, in harms way.
Today’s press conference was held to allow Keenan to confront the Archdiocese on its attempts to bully him into backing down. Last week, the Archdiocese filed motions with Ramsey County seeking an award of approximately $64,000 in legal costs and fees against Keenan. According to Keenan, he will continue to press on until the Archdiocese comes clean, discloses the names of these known predators and stops keeping known sexual abuse secret.
Great job Jim. Keep up the good work. Kids will be safer because of your tireless efforts to expose the truth.
For more information regarding the underlying case involving Fr. Thomas Adamson see the documents located on our website here and at www.bishopaccountability.org
About the author: Patrick Noaker is an attorney with the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates who handles cases involving child sexual abuse, exploitation and pornography.