continue at The Catholic SpiritArchbishop Emeritus John Nienstedt defended himself Oct. 24 from renewed allegations that he has engaged in sexual misconduct and that his judgment in the case of a former priest who sexually abused three boys was influenced by an “unusual social relationship” with him.
The allegations are part of a lawsuit filed against the Vatican Oct. 24 by Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney. Its two plaintiffs include Jim Keenan, a sexual abuse survivor from the Twin Cities. Filed in U.S. District Court-Northern District of California, Anderson’s lawsuit is the third he’s filed against the Vatican. Courts have dismissed both of the two previous suits.
The lawsuit seeks the release of Vatican-held documents in its archives pertaining to clergy sex abuse.
The lawsuit cites the internal investigation commissioned in 2014 by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis into allegations that Archbishop Nienstedt engaged in sexual misconduct with adults prior to being named Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. That investigation produced affidavits alleging that Archbishop Nienstedt had sexually harassed and propositioned adult males and frequented gay establishments in Canada and Detroit.
“I categorically deny all of those allegations, and I have never used my position to take advantage of anybody,” Archbishop Nienstedt said in his statement.
Showing posts with label Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer. Show all posts
Archbishop Nienstedt denies sexual misconduct allegations in third SNAP lawsuit against Vatican
Minn Public Radio: An isolated Nienstedt tried to limit investigation into himself
continue at MPROn April 10, 2014 — seven months into the clergy sex abuse scandal — Archbishop John Nienstedt's top advisers gathered for a private meeting. They had just received several affidavits from an internal investigation of Nienstedt that had been authorized by the archbishop himself to address damaging rumors.
The sworn statements accused Nienstedt of inappropriate behavior, according to people who read them, including sexual advances toward at least two priests.
Private investigators had even arranged a prison interview with Curtis Wehmeyer, the former priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Wehmeyer, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to child sex abuse, told the investigators he couldn't understand why Nienstedt wanted to spend time with him or why he kept him in ministry. Nienstedt made him uncomfortable, he said, and they never had sex. Wehmeyer said he wasn't interested in Nienstedt.
Nienstedt had authorized the investigation with the expectation that it would clear his name. Instead, it threatened to ruin it. At the meeting last spring, the advisers went around the room. Each said Nienstedt should resign.
A few days later, Auxiliary Bishops Lee Piche and Andrew Cozzens traveled to Washington to bring that message to the pope's ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the apostolic nuncio. It was a brave move that threatened the careers of both men. Piche and Cozzens had hoped Vigano would agree that the future of the archdiocese was more important than the reputation of one man.
So when I read this, it would seem that it's just another hit job by MPR. Let me get this straight, we are taking testimony from Wehmeyer that Nienstedt made advances toward him, just like he was groping students during their Confirmations? AP is even including the part where Nienstedt was trying to remove homosexual seminarians from Detroit's seminary, but they write it as if Neinstedt is making advances toward them. This is all recycled "news." Although, Terry Nelson's pastor said "we may be hearing more embarrassing news in the days ahead."
The only new info that I can see is a secret meeting with Piche, Couzzens and Vigano of which no source is cited (it seems plausible it happened), and that the Greene Espel law firm which conducted the first investigation is saying Neinstedt interfered. Because some of the pieces of this in the news seem fabricated, it's hard to figure out what's what. Clearly Nienstedt made major mistakes, there's no excuse for Wehmeyer, and it seems he may have indeed interfered with the investigation. Prayers for the archdiocese.
MPR will be thrilled when Cardinal Burke is assigned to take over.
HT Catholic Culture
Archbishop Nienstedt, Bp. Piche resign after criminal sex abuse coverup charges against archdiocese
VATICAN CITY — The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.continue at STrib
The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other "grave" reason that makes them unfit for office.
Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having "turned a blind eye" to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the indictment.
The resignations came just days after Pope Francis approved the creation of a new tribunal inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops who failed to protect children from sexually abusive priests. Francis' decision followed years of criticism that the Vatican had never held bishops accountable for having ignored warnings about abusive priests and simply moved them from parish to parish rather than report them to police or remove them from ministry.
It is rather interesting that this occurs now considering they haven't been found guilty of anything yet... I assume the trial will proceed despite the resignations. What does the Vatican do if they are vindicated(probably doubtful but still a possibility)? If bishops can be removed from office without any actual conviction of wrongdoing, it will be a strategy continually employed by the enemies of the Church. Should we assume the day old tribunal at the Vatican has already heard the case?
It has been a little under a year since Jennifer Haselberger resigns and leaked hundred of pages of documents from the archdiocese.
ht CB
Update2: Terry Nelson reaction
Update1: Statement from Archbishop Nienstedt Regarding the Future of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
From Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis [due to high traffic I posted in full here]
One Chancery, Six Charges – Twin Cities Church Hit With Criminal Counts
Two years since a storm of revelations of abuse and cover-up began bearing down on the archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis, yesterday saw the tumult take yet another eruptive turn as the bankrupt Twin Cities church was institutionally charged with six "gross misdemeanors" of child endangerment stemming from its handling of a now-jailed and laicized cleric whose pattern of misconduct is alleged to have continued into 2011.continue at Whispers
Nearly 13 years since the US bishops enacted the Dallas Charter and Norms to mandate stringent safe-environment provisions as the church's national law, the latest criminal proceeding over post-2002 lapses centers on the case of Curtis Wehmeyer, a thrice-convicted abuser ordained in 2001 and removed from ministry in mid-2012 following years of concerns expressed to archdiocesan officials.
After pleading guilty to a combined 20 abuse and child pornography counts later in 2012, Wehmeyer was dismissed from the clerical state by the Vatican earlier this year.
In a 44-page presentment that veers between graphic disclosures of Wehmeyer's conduct and a detailed timeline of the Chancery responses to alarms sounded over the priest's activity – including a 2004 incident where he solicited young men for sex in a Barnes & Noble bookstore – Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the findings amounted to "a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the archdiocese... over the course of decades."
HT T.Nelsoyevsky
Report: Minn St. Paul Archdiocese knew of Minnesota priest's misconduct
ST. PAUL — When the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer was accused last year of sexually abusing children, officials from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis told police he would immediately be relieved of his duties and were praised for their quick response.continue at Duluth Trib
But top archdiocese officials had known of Wehmeyer's sexual compulsions for nearly a decade yet kept him in ministry and failed to warn parishioners, Minnesota Public Radio News reported today. MPR cited canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger, who resigned in April, and dozens of other interviews and documents.
A memo written in 2011 shows the former vicar general — the top deputy of the archdiocese — did not want employees at Wehmeyer's parish to know about his past.
“At every step of the way, this could have been prevented,” Haselberger said. “This is just failure after failure after failure after failure.”
Wehmeyer is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography. He declined to comment, as did Archbishop John Nienstedt.
Jennifer Haselberger was only appointed 5 years ago so this isn't some old dissident, the claims bears a great deal of weight. If it is true, good for her for speaking it, it's the right thing to do.
HT Ray
Photo MPR
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