Bp. Cozzens Says Nienstedt Investigation Was 'Doomed to Fail'

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released Friday his account of a now-controversial 2014 investigation into allegations against Archbishop John Nienstedt.

“In retrospect, it was doomed to fail. We did not have enough objectivity or experience with such investigations. Nor did we have authority to act. Throughout our efforts, we did not know where we could turn for assistance, because there was no meaningful structure to address allegations against bishops,” he wrote of the investigation.

Bishop Cozzens was part of a team charged with reviewing Archbishop Nienstedt’s handling of clerical sexual abuse allegations in the archdiocese, and investigating allegations of sexual misconduct toward seminarians on the archbishop’s part.

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