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St. Louis Archbishop Didn't Know Sex With Children Was a Crime
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of NBC News
Posted: June 23rd, 2014
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/religion/st-louis-archbishop-did...
The St. Louis archbishop embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal testified last month that he didnt know in the 1980s whether it was illegal for priests to have sex with children, according to a court deposition released [on June 9]. Archbishop Robert Carlson, who was chancellor of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul at the time, was deposed as part of a lawsuit against the Twin Cities archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota. In a video released by the St. Paul law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, the Catholic archbishop is asked whether he had known it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a child. Im not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not, Carlson responded. I understand today its a crime. When asked when he first realized it was a crime for an adult including priests to have sex with a child, Carlson, 69, shook his head. I dont remember, he testified. Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing an alleged clergy abuse victim, also released documents ... indicating Carlson was aware in 1984 of the seriousness of child abuse allegations. He admitted in his deposition that he never personally went to police, even when a clergy member admitted to inappropriate behavior. In last months testimony, Carlson responded 193 times that he did not recall abuse-related conversations from the 1980s to mid-1990s. Anderson provided a report from a previous deposition in 1987 in which now-deceased Bishop Loras Watters said he advised Carlson to answer I dont remember if questioned in court. Carlson responded last month that he had no knowledge of the discussion.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandals news articles from reliable major media sources.
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