Criminal prosecutors in Minnesota won a rare admission of wrongdoing from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which conceded it protected a priest who was later convicted of sexually abusing children, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal announced yesterday resolves criminal charges against the archdiocese alleging it failed to take actions to safeguard children well after U.S. bishops instituted a new, strict abuse policy in 2002. As part of the deal, the archdiocese acknowledged that it failed to adequately respond to and prevent the abuse of three children, and that it put its own interests and the interests of an abusive priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, ahead of the safety of those children. It is unclear how yesterday’s admission will affect the Twin Cities archdiocese, but legal experts say that for dioceses in bankruptcy in general, admitted criminal activity can complicate potential insurance recovery because intentional or criminal actions are typically excluded by insurance policies.
