Minn. archdiocese paid $11M to victims of abuse, misconduct by priests

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A Minnesota archdiocese paid nearly $11 million in a decade to cover costs related to sexual abuse and other misconduct by priests, church documents show.

From 2003 to 2012, the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis wrote checks totaling more than $476,000 to victims of abuse, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Wednesday.

Some $1.5 million was spent on behalf of victims for counseling, therapy and other medical services, the documents obtained by the Star-Tribune reveal. Additional money was given to victims through a trust account.

The payments represent only cases handled internally by the diocese and not any that may have been tried in the courts.

The accounting documents detail two categories of spending. One deals with costs associated with priests removed from active ministry for abuse of children or vulnerable adults. The other is for priests removed for adult sexual misconduct or other issues, such as financial misdeeds.

Priests removed from active ministry continued to receive financial support from the church, the documents show.

Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the payments to victims were in line with guidelines of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted in 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to a rising number of sexual abuse allegations against priests.

Accurso said the archdiocese never asked victims for confidentiality when a settlement was made. The archdiocese agreed to confidentiality when a victim or their family requested it, he said.