MN- Archbishop's deposition set but SNAP predicts it won't happen

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 27

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])

Two top St. Paul archdiocesan officials will supposedly be deposed next month about clergy sex crimes and cover ups, but we doubt that will actually happen.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Depositions-scheduled-in-priest-abuse-lawsuit-5273598.php

A dozen Catholic bishops – and two Catholic religious orders – have sought bankruptcy protection at the 11th hour to prevent depositions like these from taking place. And some Catholic officials (Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law and, more recently, Australia's Cardinal George Pell) have been promoted to Rome, in part we believe, to avoid facing tough questions about child sex abuse and cover up cases. Other Catholic officials (like Fr. John Urell of the Orange County diocese) have claimed illness and gone away or been sent away to church “treatment centers” to prevent or delay depositions like this. 

We'd love to be proven wrong. But we strongly fear neither Twin Cities officials – Archbishop John Nienstedt and Fr. Kevin McDonough – will actually be deposed.

And we again ask a puzzling question that Twin Cities law enforcement personnel should publicly answer: How is it that civil attorneys get to question Nienstedt and McDonough but police and prosecutors don't? This makes us question again why law enforcement officials aren't being more assertive with these obviously reckless, deceptive, callous and self-serving Catholic bureaucrats. 

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Bob Schwiderski of Wayzata (952-471-3422, [email protected]), Frank Meuers of Plymouth (952-334-5180, [email protected])