"Trust Us"

By Patrick Noaker

We seem to hear “trust us” a lot from religious institutions when it comes to the handling of the sexual abuse crisis. The lawsuits filed today seem to add to the growing mountain of evidence casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
For starters, it is difficult to trust any organization that intimidates children into not reporting sexual abuse. In the case that was filed today in St. Paul, MN against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, one of the Plaintiffs actually reported that Fr. Thomas Stitts was having sexual contact with him to his grade school principal. In response, the kid was called deranged and mentally unstable for making such an outrageous claim against the good father. This is the seventh known case against Fr. Stitts.
In addition, it is difficult to trust any organization that admits that they have 33 child molesters as current or former employees, but refuses to provide the identities of any of them.
So far, I am not seeing a lot to trust.

Video from press conference here

2 More Men Claim Abuse by St. Paul Priest - Star Tribune 6/29/10 for more on this story click here

Two More Men Sue Archdiocese Over Alleged Abuse by Hastings Priest – Pioneer Press 6/29/10 for more on this story click here