By Jean Hopfensperger hopfen@startribune.com
A Ramsey County District judge on Friday gave the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis more time to release a second list of priests accused of child sexual abuse, shifting the deadline from Monday to Feb. 5.
Judge John Van de North also reiterated that the new list, which covers priests accused of abuse from 2004 to the present, would include all priests who faced accusations, not just those deemed "credibly accused" by the archdiocese. That was the standard for the first, older list of priests, released last month.
The ruling applies to both the Twin Cities archdiocese and the Winona diocese, which had been named in an abuse lawsuit that compelled the release of the lists.
Archdiocese lawyers had gone to court Friday to argue that some priests have been falsely accused of child abuse and that their names should not be made public.
Van de North said he understood the importance of protecting reputations of innocent clergy, but the charges were serious.
"We're talking about accusations of child abuse," said Van de North, noting that the list doesn't even include priests accused of sexual misconduct with "married women or men."
Van de North urged attorneys for both the archdiocese and for an alleged victim of former priest Thomas Adamson — whose case prompted the release of the lists — to work together to devise a formula that insures that all names are revealed but that innocent parties are spared public exposure.