Criminal complaint filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis

"For sale" signs have gone up in front of several properties

owned by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.*

As of yet, no individuals have been named in the complaint.

Weird.

From Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office filed criminal charges Friday against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for “failing to protect children” from an abusive priest. 

The charges stem from the archdiocese’s oversight of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is now serving a prison term for abusing two boys while he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in St. Paul. 

“Today we are alleging a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the course of decades,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. 

“By filing criminal charges and taking civil action, we are holding the archdiocese accountable for its failure to responsibly and meaningfully respond to numerous and repeated reports of troubling conduct by Curtis Wehmeyer.” - Read more here.

Oddly enough, as of this posting, the only response from the Archdiocese I could find was here.


*Ed. note: Proceeds from the sales would go to court to pay creditors, meaning the victims suing for sex abuse allegedly by priests. - That story here.


I'm reminded of this 'vision':

The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. 

She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes . . . she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members…. - Joseph Ratzinger

UPDATE:  The Archdiocese statement here.