MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
November 9, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — About 100 people gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul Saturday to urge Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.
The group, which was made up of victims of clergy sex abuse and others calling for greater transparency in the Catholic Church, marched outside of Nienstedt’s office. Some held signs calling for Nienstedt to step down.
Demonstrators criticized Nienstedt’s handling of alleged sexual misconduct by priests, his support for a failed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and the decision by church leaders to make extra payments to priests who have sexually abused children.
Shawn Plocher of Minneapolis said he was sexually abused by a priest in 1986.
“Who can you trust when you were abused by a person of God in the House of God?” said Plocher. “Something needs to change.”
The protest comes after a series of MPR News reports found Nienstedt and others disregarded warnings of a priest’s sexual conduct and debated internally whether another priest’s computer contained child pornography. The investigation also found that several priests accused of sexually abusing minors were given extra payments after they were removed from ministr
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.