C.J.: Attorney wages war on clergy sex abuse C.J. Star Tribune
Published Apr 28, 2002 St. Paul attorney Jeffrey Anderson's zeal for suing priests for sexual abuse is renewed every time he looks at his daughter Amy. Now 28, Amy was 8 when she was molested by a therapist who happened to be a former priest, according to the April 22 People magazine. "I came to feel like I didn't protect her, and to this day I understand how parents of victims blame themselves," Anderson tells People. In 20 years he has represented more than 400 plaintiffs in lawsuits against church officials, and last month sued a number of bishops, alleging a pattern of criminal wrongdoing. But his personal motivation has not been widely known. "I don't make a secret of [Amy's molestation]. I don't volunteer it. That was the first time anybody had ever asked me that question, Were you sexually abused or anybody in your family?" As Pope John Paul's summit ended with Boston Cardinal Bernard Above the Law -- as he is being called -- out of sight but not yet out of a job, Anderson has a hunch about the denouement. "He will not be the first and the only" church official forced out," he said. I think you're going to see several cardinals and several bishops resign as a part of an overall scheme of accountability. I don't think it will originate from the Vatican. I think the pressure will mount . . . just like the Berlin Wall crumbled. There is a huge crash now, and the dam is effectively broken. There isn't going to be accountability until some of those guys step down." Anderson also foresees criminal charges against Catholic officials who moved known abusers around: "Criminal indictments . . . for aiding and abetting and this kind of stuff."