Prosecutors “Troubled” That Archdiocese Obeyed the Law?

Prosecutors “Troubled” That Archdiocese Obeyed the Law?

The Catholic Church did the right thing, but still gets criticized.

St. Paul, MN—The Ramsey County Prosecutor’s office has an odd standard when it comes to portraying the Catholic Church when it demonstrably did the right thing and obeyed the law.

Rather than praising them, or even simply acknowledging their innocence of wrongdoing, the office says: “we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that the Church violated the law or committed any wrongdoing.

In normal parlance, that is called “innocence.” But in today’s environment, it’s an opportunity to call a press conference calling on more people to accuse the Church of wrongdoing.

“The Church has made serious mistakes in the past handling abuse cases, and has acknowledged that. Now, when it is doing exactly the right thing the authorities make vague accusations that they are ‘troubled’ by actions that they won’t specify, and refuse to acknowledge that the Church is acting properly,” said David Strom, Spokesman for the Catholic Defense League.

“Prosecutors and police are supposed to go after wrongdoers, not make vague accusations in a press conference where they are forced to acknowledge the innocence of their target,” Strom said.

“Not only are people innocent until proven guilty in America, they shouldn’t be persecuted when actually found innocent.

“Nobody wants offending priests out of the Church more than the Catholic laity; but we won’t stand by as the innocent are slandered for political purposes,” Strom concluded.

The Catholic Defense League of Minnesota was formed in 1976. It is dedicated to protecting religious and civil rights.