Paper Trail
How “Forgive and Forget” Buried a Church’s Dark Secret artwork

How “Forgive and Forget” Buried a Church’s Dark Secret

Paper Trail
45:45
Play episode

Show notes

Host Jessica Lussenhop received an unusual email: A prosecutor had major concerns about a case in Minnesota. A man had pleaded guilty to felony child sexual abuse, but it seemed like the church he belonged to, the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church, might have played a part in keeping the abuse quiet. Lussenhop teamed up with reporter Andy Mannix, and they discovered this case was just a symptom of a much bigger problem in the OALC. Read the original stories here: https://www.propublica.org/series/forgive-and-forget The National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 800-656-HOPE (4673). If you have information about the OALC, contact Andy Mannix and Jeremy Kohler. Support our journalism by donating at propublica.org/donate.

More from this show

More
  1. The True Story of Why Immigration Agents Raided a Chicago Apartment Building

    In the middle of a September night last year, hundreds of agents stormed a Chicago apartment building, some rappelling down from a Black Hawk helicopter. They arrested 37 immigrant…

    41:40
  2. What Happened When Trump Officials Destroyed USAID (From Reveal)

    This week, we’re presenting a conversation with ProPublica reporters that originally aired on Reveal’s podcast “More to the Story.” When the administration and DOGE cut off funding…

    33:41
  3. How Microsoft’s “Little Workaround” Created a Major Pentagon Threat

    A source told reporter Renee Dudley something she found hard to believe: that Microsoft was running tech support for the Department of Defense through China, the country’s biggest…

    33:51
  4. Should People Who Killed Their Abusers Walk Free?

    In 2024, Oklahoma legislators passed an unusual law: It would create a pathway to freedom for people who could prove that domestic violence was a substantial contributing factor to…

    38:34
  5. How a 25-Cent Pill Became a Hundred-Billion-Dollar Business

    Reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and soon learned that one of his drugs would cost almost $1,000 per pill. He set out to discover why, and uncovered financial rec…

    41:25
  6. How to Fight a Health Insurance Denial With a Little-Known Tool

    ProPublica got a tip from a reader named Teressa. Her husband was having a severe mental health crisis, and her health insurance company was denying coverage for his hospital and i…

    39:14
Now Playing