ST. PAUL, Minn. — An attorney said Wednesday he's asked a Ramsey County judge to unseal a list of 33 priests that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has identified as having credible allegations of abuse lodged against them.
The list of names is already in court files from a previous lawsuit, but a judge sealed it.
Jeff Anderson said he filed a motion to unseal it Wednesday on behalf of David Pususta, of St. Paul, who told reporters at a news conference Wednesday he was repeatedly sexually abused by the Rev. John Brown in a Waverly parish rectory when he was about 10 years old in the 1960s, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Pususta said he believes Brown abused other children as well.
Pususta said he's struggled with alcoholism and problems with relationships because of the abuse. By going public, he said, he hopes other victims will come forward.
Brown, who's now 92 and living in a Maplewood assisted living home, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that he "very, very vaguely" recalls fondling some boys in a locker room. He was asked if he was sorry.
"I have to be sorry," he said. "Wouldn't anybody be sorry?"
But when asked about other accusations of molestation, the newspaper said Brown appeared to contradict himself, saying "I don't recall actually molesting," adding, "If it happened I'd have to have remorse."
A parent complained about Brown's behavior to Archbishop Leo Binz in 1966, according to a 1992 memorandum by Rev. Kevin McDonough, the vicar general of the archdiocese. Anderson made the document public at the news conference.