News Story of the Day

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A video statement obtained exclusively by WCCO shows a Minnesota woman describing alleged abuse by a Catholic priest.

Her case is part of a growing scandal accusing a cover-up by top officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Speaking truth to power and doing what you say you will do are hallmarks of credibility — whether it’s a person or an organization.

In the case of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul, a person — the Rev. Bill Deziel — is speaking truth to power because an organization — the archdiocese — is not doing what it said it will do.

There’s no doubt that the profligate lifestyle of the Bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, stinks like the local cheese. One can hope that Pope Francis has exiled him him from his palatial residence to contemplate his behavior in a monastic cell with a hard cot, a diet of bread and legumes, and the bathroom down the hall.

LIMA, Peru — Pope Francis’ promise of a more humble, tolerant Catholic Church may have earned rave reviews around the world, but in Latin America, a string of child sex scandals has left some wondering what's really changed in the Vatican.

"Be loving critics and critical lovers of the institutional church."

Jennifer Haselberger first heard that phrase while she was an undergraduate student at the College of St. Catherine (now St. Catherine University) in St. Paul, Minn. When she returned home in 2008 to take the position of chancellor of canonical affairs for the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese, the phrase returned with her. Responsible for its records and archives, she discovered unreported allegations of clergy sex abuse and lapses in investigations

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) - A weekend benefit is set to honor a former Mount St. Mary's Academy employee who was fired last year for failing to report sexual assault.  The "going-away" party for Kathy Griffin, the all-girls school former athletic director is now coming under fire by two national sex abuse advocacy groups – one of which is asking the Arkansas Catholic Diocese to step in.

University of St. Thomas professor Michael J. Keating told a fellow priest in 2006 that a teenage Italian girl had "seduced" him and he was worried that his colleague might get the wrong impression.

Some wounds, if closed too quickly, can appear to heal on the surface while festering deep below the skin. When that happens, it can be necessary to reopen the wound, to expose and remove the infection.

Minnesota's Catholic church is at such a point. The infection, in this case, is a list of alleged sex offenders among the clergy in each diocese in Minnesota.

A St. Paul priest and University of St. Thomas professor was named in a lawsuit Monday by a woman who said he abused her when she was a minor.

Archbishop John Nienstedt was in the middle of a heated political fight over same-sex marriage in February of last year when he learned of a disturbing secret, hidden in the basement of the chancery — pornography from a priest's computer, some of which appeared to depict children.