Report: Archdiocese has 'serious shortcomings' protecting children from sex abuse

Concentrated power, poor oversight and little communication with the faithful are among the serious shortcomings inside the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that opened the door "for some priests to harm children," a panel ordered by the archbishop said Monday.

"Behavioral warning signs were minimized or inappropriately rationalized," the task force said, adding the archdiocese also has a "confusing and inadequate" system to report complaints of sexual abuse of children.

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The report calls for an overhaul in the way complaints are received and accused priests monitored. It also calls for a single clergy review board, with lay people in the majority, to receive and review all allegations of clergy misconduct.

"Despite Archdiocesan policies and procedures designed to protect against clergy sexual abuse of minors, a flawed organizational structure with little oversight and accountability created opportunities" for some priests to abuse children, the report released Monday said. "Sadly, these crimes might have been prevented if the archdiocesan officials in positions of authority over the abusers had responded appropriately to misconduct."

While the Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force didn't focus on individual cases, it did detail some of the internal archdiocese breakdowns connected to the case of the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, a St. Paul priest whose abuse of minors resulted in a conviction for criminal sexual conduct in 2012.

An MPR News investigation found top archdiocese leaders knew of Wehmeyer's sexual compulsions for nearly a decade but kept him in ministry and failed to warn parishioners.

Wehmeyer's case offered a clear example of the "structural deficiencies" within the archdiocese, the task force said, pointing a finger at the the Rev. Kevin McDonough, who at the time served as vicar general, the archbishop's second in command.

McDonough's dual roles as vicar general and "delegate for safe environment," a job that included oversight of all child abuse prevention efforts in the archdiocese, was an inherent conflict, "effectively removing checks and balances that would result from separation of duties" according to the task force report.

McDonough and other leaders viewed Wehmeyer's actions outside the jurisdiction of the archdiocese clergy review board and "isolated reports of Wehmeyer's camping trips with boys were discounted and not shared with archdiocese officials who were already monitoring the priest, the report noted.

While some clergy and laypeople warned about Wehmeyer's behavior, "those reports were not handled well by archdiocesan officials, causing a delay that may have allowed further abuse to occur," the task force said."

MPR News reported in September that Archbishop John Nienstedt knew of the allegations against Wehmeyer yet didn't remove him from ministry. In 2009 Nienstedt appointed Wehmeyer as pastor of Blessed Sacrament and St. Thomas the Apostle, two St. Paul parishes that later merged.

Monday's report did not criticize Nienstedt directly over the Wehmeyer case.

Nienstedt called for the review last fall following an MPR News investigation that found church leaders disregarded warning signs about a parish priest who later went on to sexually abuse two boys.

Nienstedt chose the Rev. Reginald Whitt, a Dominican priest and University of St. Thomas law professor, to create the task force.

On Monday, Whitt said in a statement that he was studying the task force's recommendations "for the purpose of developing practicable norms, structures, and procedures" in place that would conform to civil and canon law.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests dismissed the report on Monday, saying that the task force simply stated the obvious "without naming those who ignored, hid, minimized or enabled heinous crimes against children."

Claiming that "'mistakes' have been made" and that "minor 'tweaks' in job titles and church policies will make abuse by clergy and cover ups by bishops a problem in the past" is "silly and deceptive," said Barbara Dorris, the survivors group's outreach director.

Nowhere in the report, she added, "does it say call police or law enforcement."