News

 November 14, 2013Archdiocese Hires Insider to Conduct Review of Priest FilesArchbishop Nienstedt to decide what information is accessible for review Statement of Attorney Mike Finnegan(St. Paul, Minnesota) – Today the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Archbishop Nienstedt announced the hiring of Kinsale Management Consulting to conduct a review of clergy files. The firm’s founder, Kathleen McChesney, Ph.D., is the former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Child and Youth Protection. We are concerned that Archbishop Nienstedt chose another chur…

News ReleaseNovember 12,
2013Attorneys for the Archdiocese of
Milwaukee and its Insurers
Reach Confidential Settlement
Excluding Sexual Abuse Survivors 
Archbishop breaks promise to treat
survivors fairly during bankruptcy
(Milwaukee, WI) –
Yesterday the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed legal papers in the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin seeking to extend
the stay of proceedings due to a confidential settlement agreement reached
between the Archdiocese and one of its primary insurers, LMI. While at first
glance this seems to bring…

  November 11, 2013 Archbishop Nienstedt Putting Kids at Risk by Delaying Release of Names of 33 Priests with Credible Allegations of Sexual Abuse Archdiocese has known the identities of the offenders since at least 2004 Statement of Attorney Mike Finnegan (St. Paul, Minnesota) – Nearly a decade ago, the Archdiocese had in its possession the identities of the names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Repeated requests to release these names have gone unanswered and finally, today, Archbishop John Nienstedt say…

 WHITE PLAINS – A former religion teacher at an all-boys Catholic school in White Plains has been accused of raping a 14-year-old boy. Amanda Iles, who once taught at Stepinac High School, allegedly had sex with the Yonkers boy between June and July of this year. Investigators say she and the teen had several encounters at her home in Eastchester. The boy’s parents allegedly learned of the incidents through cellphone video of their son’s visits. Iles tutored him twice a week after school.Iles was employed by the school for only a year before resigning and moving to California. News 12…

Norberto Nierras says he saw the man with the shock of white hair all the time along Home Avenue, a residential block that teems with children from the Catholic elementary and high schools a few hundred yards away. The man, Nierras said, came and went as he pleased, strolling the Rutherford neighborhood or sitting on a bench outside the four-story building he called home: the St. John Vianney Residence for Retired Priests.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did not require an abusive priest to give the church the names of every child he sexually assaulted, according to a document obtained by MPR News.

Penn State has agreed to pay $59.7 million to 26 sexual abuse victims of the former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in exchange for an end to their claims against the university, Penn State announced Monday. Of the 26 settlements, 23 are fully signed and three are agreed to in principle, with final documentation expected in the next few weeks. Rodney A. Erickson, the president of the university, called the settlement “another step forward in the healing process for those hurt by Mr. Sandusky, and another step forward for Penn State.” He added, “We cannot undo what has been done,…

Father Robert M. Thruner On October 29, 2013 a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman in her 30s, naming as defendants Fr. Robert Thurner and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The lawsuit claims the Archdiocese was negligent in allowing Father Thurner continued access to children. In 1982, Thurner admitted to then-Archbishop Roach that he had sexually abused a 16 year-old boy and purchased alcohol for the boy. Despite Thurner’s admission, the Archdiocese chose to move Thurner into a new, unsuspecting parish where he subsequently abused Doe 23…

The pastor of a large Twin Cities parish has taken the unusual step of publicly questioning whether Archbishop John Nienstedt should continue in his post amid a widening priest sex abuse scandal. The Rev. Bill Deziel, who heads the 6,000-member Church of St. Peter, used his church’s Sunday bulletin to call for a “do-over” of archdiocesan leadership. “When things get this bad,” Deziel wrote to his parishioners, “sometimes a fresh start is needed for all involved.” Such a change, he said, “could get us moving again with all that Christ calls us to do.” Jim Accurso, spokesman for the Archdioces…

Duluth Catholic officials this month announced a priest “has recently been credibly accused” of molesting a girl and was “rather quickly” removed from ministry. Sound too good to be true? It is. Questioned by reporters, Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba admitted he received the abuse report more than a year ago. He admitted it took two months for him to oust the predator. And Duluth’s prosecutor says no one has told him anything about child sex abuse allegations against the priest, Fr. Cornelius Kelleher. Bishop Sirba left out a few facts as well. When the allegation came in, and when it was deemed…