Our View: Archdiocese Risks Losing Credibility

St. Cloud Times
October 25, 2013

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20131025/OPINION/310250008/Our-View-Archdiocese-risks-losing-credibility

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt / AP

Speaking truth to power and doing what you say you will do are hallmarks of credibility — whether it’s a person or an organization.

In the case of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul, a person — the Rev. Bill Deziel — is speaking truth to power because an organization — the archdiocese — is not doing what it said it will do.

Kudos to Dezeil for his courage and credibility. As for the credibility of the archdiocese, well, it’s hanging in the balance.

The Star Tribune reported earlier this week that Dezeil, who leads the 6,000-member Church of St. Peter in the Twin Cities, is openly asking if Archbishop John Nienstedt should step down after recent news reports show archdiocese leadership has failed this decade at doing what it said it would do starting in 2002 — stop covering up clergy sex abuse.

Nienstedt on Wednesday refuted that contention, told MPR he would not step down and stressed he has done nothing illegal or in violation of church laws.

But Dezeil’s comments, delivered in a church bulletin, come after several MPR news reports exposed how leaders of the archdiocese for years failed to act even though they knew of at least three priests suspected of or known to have engaged in inappropriate or illegal behavior.

• The Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography.

• The Rev. Michael Keating went on temporary leave Oct. 11 from the University of St. Thomas after it was reported the archdiocese had investigated sexual abuse claims against him in 2006.

• The Rev. Jon Shelley, whose computer archdiocese leaders in 2004 knew contained “borderline illegal” pornography but about which they did nothing.

And here’s what makes the leadership void at the archdiocese even more unsettling.

Not only is it the archdiocese’s own documentation that shows key leaders knew of such behaviors and said nothing, but all of this took place just after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and even Pope John Paul II in 2002 declared the church must put a premium on prevention and no longer stand silent.

Granted, Nienstedt was not leading the archdiocese during most of the years the actions of these three priests were kept secret. However, when he replaced Bishop Harry Flynn in 2008, he at least had access to the records, and he certainly had contact with key leaders who knew of them.

Coupled with the pope’s 2002 directive, that’s why it’s hard to fathom these issues — and these documents — never came to Nienstedt’s attention.

And that’s why the credibility of Nienstedt and the archdiocese now hangs in the balance.