Church officials in St. Paul and the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., may have destroyed evidence that a St. Paul priest possessed child pornography, a St. Paul attorney charged Thursday.
Church documents released at a news conference describe how the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as the Vatican’s top official in Washington, feared a scandal in the case of the Rev. Donald Dummer. The St. Paul priest was accused of possessing pornographic videos when he was at St. Mary’s Parish in the late 1990s.
Dummer, 77, was added by the archdiocese to a list of priests with credible accusations of sexual misconduct.
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They include a copy of a January 2002 letter indicating that in early 1997, a part-time employee at St. Mary’s came across a number of VCR movies in Dummer’s room. The employee was “shocked” by one of the videos, which depicted 10- to 12-year-old boys playing basketball in the nude.
The employee called the archbishop’s office, according to documents, and was referred to then-Vicar General Kevin McDonough. The letter said the employee found more videos depicting child pornography in Dummer’s room in early 1998 and delivered them to McDonough’s secretary.
Other documents include correspondence between the Vatican embassy and local church officials discussing allegedly pornographic videotapes that were turned in by an employee at St. Mary’s.
McDonough, the archdiocese’s point person for clergy abuse complaints, destroyed the tapes, according to a document prepared by an employee at St. Mary’s.
Lawyer: Twin Cities archdiocese may have destroyed porn videos | Star Tribune
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