Archbishop John Nienstedt pledged Monday to release a partial list of clergy members the church has identified as sex offenders, a document that the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has fought to keep secret since 2004.
Nienstedt also acknowledged that the archdiocese had kept one priest — the Rev. Clarence Vavra — in active ministry for nearly a decade after the priest admitted sexually abusing several young boys.
The 74-year-old Vavra, now living in New Prague, is among the priests the archdiocese listed as credibly accused sex offenders in 2004, according to an open letter Nienstedt sent to the media. The letter came in response to a Minnesota Public Radio report showing the church never disclosed Vavra's abuse to parishioners or law enforcement.
Nienstedt said he would soon release the names of clergy the church found to have abused minors, and who were still alive. Other names could come later, after a review by an outside firm.
"Serious errors were made by the archdiocese in dealing with him [Vavra]," wrote Nienstedt. " … too much trust was placed in the hope of remedying Vavra's egregious behavior. Not enough effort was made to identify and care for his victims."
Nienstedt said the list would include "the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the archdiocese." All have been removed from the ministry, he said.
Victims advocates and attorneys have lobbied for years to get the list of sex abusing priests made public. U.S. bishops had commissioned a national inventory of alleged clergy abuse cases not long after the sex scandals erupted in the Archdiocese Boston in 2002. Dioceses were asked to review records over 50 years and submit data for the study, which was released in 2004. Dioceses have updated the lists every year since.
It's unknown how many names will be made public, or how many are on the list today. Thirty-three clergy members in the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese were on the 2004 version, according to Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who represents plaintiffs in clergy misconduct cases.