St. Paul, MN. – The head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis said under oath he couldn’t recall how he handled allegations of abuse against a Minnesota priest years ago.
But Archbishop Robert Carlson did say he never went to authorities after that priest admitted in the 1980s he engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Carlson was deposed last month in a case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where Carlson investigated allegations of abuse from 1979 to 1994.
The St. Louis archdiocese says while Carlson couldn’t recall his knowledge of the law years ago, his testimony made it clear he knows child sex abuse is a crime.
Carlson left Minnesota in 1994 and served as bishop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Saginaw, Michigan, before becoming St. Louis archbishop in 2009.