Nienstedt says he's 'relieved' that fate of investigation is now public, “I am a heterosexual man who has been celibate my entire life”

Former Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt said Thursday he is “relieved” that the public now is aware of the fate of an investigation into alleged sexual improprieties by him.

A day after a 2014 memo from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was made public stating that a Vatican emissary quashed the investigation, Nienstedt repeated that he has done nothing improper, despite allegations of misconduct revealed in documents released Wednesday by the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

“I am a heterosexual man who has been celibate my entire life,” Nienstedt wrote in an e-mail to the Star Tribune Thursday. “I am relieved that the public now knows the extent of the allegations and can hear my response.”

The fate of the Nienstedt investigation has been a question confronting Twin Cities Catholics for two years. The memo made public this week indicated that the Vatican emissary in Washington, D.C., put the brakes on the probe, which had been looking into allegations of sexual misconduct by Nienstedt in Michigan, Minnesota and Rome.

continue at STrib

The allegations of gay club hopping were stupid lies.  Abp. Nienstedt clearly made mistakes here, and his judgement in these matters should have been the focus of the investigation and press coverage.  To libel the man out of some vendetta was transparent and took the focus off the real issue the Church is struggling to resolve.