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Files on Winona Diocese clergy who abused children are made public
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of StarTribune (Leading newspaper of Minneapolis)
Posted: October 13th, 2014
http://www.startribune.com/local/278388541.html
Long-sealed records of 14 Catholic priests who worked in four high schools and 45 parishes across southern Minnesota were opened to public scrutiny Tuesday, revealing hundreds of documents indicating that the Diocese of Winona did not report claims of child sex abuse to law enforcement, did not remove offenders from ministry, and continued to financially support the priests even as the patterns of abuse became clear. The Winona Diocese anticipates eventual bankruptcy as a result of that lawsuit and others being filed under the new Minnesota Child Victims Act. The 14 priests worked in all four high schools in the diocese. The files, including mental health reports on the priests and detailed complaints of sexual abuse, were made public as part of a groundbreaking lawsuit making its way through Ramsey District Court. The files being released on each of these credibly accused offenders reflects not only their history of offenses, but how they have been handled by top officials over the years, said Jeff Anderson, the attorney for the lawsuit. Every time we disclose the past, we make it less likely to be repeated in the future. The sexual abuse ranged from oral sex to fondling to rape, the documents showed. Emotional abuse often accompanied the physical abuse. For example, the Rev. Richard Hatch would force one of his boy victims to have oral sex and then make him go to confession and confess it as if he were the cause of it, documents showed. Like other dioceses, Winona kept the priests on the move, even after serious allegation of abuse.
Note: How many more terrible abuses like this are not being exposed because the Catholic Church and many other groups refuse to release their secret files showing just how bad it was. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sex abuse scandals from reliable major media sources.
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