Ramsey County Drops Criminal Charges Against Archdiocese

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced that the criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have been dropped.

According to KARE 11, the charges were dropped as a result of the Archdiocese holding up its end of an agreement designed to keep children safe and out of the hands of abusive priests.

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Choi said in exchange for dropping the charges, the archdiocese must follow additional requirements, added to the existing ones from the civil case settled last December.

Choi praised the archdiocese for its VIRTUS training program, which requires everyone who works with children to go through criminal background checks, undergo three hours of specialized training, and sign a code of conduct. So far, 576 active clergy have completed the program.

Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling and founder of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, will sit on the Ministerial Review Board, which reviews complaints of clergy sex abuse.

Choi said because the archdiocese admitted its wrongdoing and agreed to the new requirements, the criminal charges have been dropped.

"From the beginning, it has been our position that the archdiocese must directly admit fault and wrongdoing," Choi said. "Today, that public admission has been made."

Image: Ryan Claussen via Flickr / Creative Commons