WCCO.com (AP) St. Paul A Twins Cities man alleged in a lawsuit against two diocese of the Roman Catholic Church that he was abused by a priest at Risen Savior parish in Apple Valley, Minn., during the 1980s, when he was an altar boy.
The alleged victim, 38, was not identified in a lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court on Monday by attorney Jeff Anderson of St. Paul.
The plaintiff claimed he didn’t remember the sexual abuse by former priest Thomas Adamson until 2002, when there were widespread media reports of clergy abuse.
Adamson, 72, was removed from the priesthood in 1984 after several lawsuits revealed a long history of abuse during his 25 years as a priest.
The new lawsuit named as defendants the Diocese of Winona, where Adamson worked from 1958 to 1974, and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where he was transferred in 1975 after allegations of abuse surfaced.
In a prepared statement, the Twin Cities archdiocese said Adamson was dismissed “after cases of abuse of minors were uncovered,” but added that the latest plaintiff’s claims had “not previously been brought to the archdiocese’s attention.”
The statement noted that the archdiocese has “an ongoing program of investigating abuse claims and providing therapy and other benefits to victims.”
Anderson alleged that by 1980 church officials knew Adamson had been the subject of many sexual abuse allegations yet they transferred him to the Apple Valley parish anyway.
“Children, including plaintiff, and their families were not told what defendants knew — that Adamson had sexually molested dozens of boys,” the lawsuit claims.
The archdiocese’s statement said church officials had “no prior knowledge of the alleged sexual abuse” related in the lawsuit.
Anderson and the archdiocese said Adamson is believed to live near Eau Claire, Wis. A telephone number for him could not be found Tuesday.