MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: April 24, 201
The release of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s court deposition on clergy abuse Tuesday has aggravated his already difficult relationship with concerned Catholics but also reinforced his support among admirers.
That divide could widen Thursday, when the deposition of the archdiocese’s point person on child sex abuse — the Rev. Kevin McDonough — will also be made public on video and text.
Even as Nienstedt’s testimony stoked new debate among 800,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, there were pleas from all sides to reform how the church handles child abusers.
“I think the message to the faithful members of the archdiocese is this: If you have a question about whether a child is at risk, pick up the phone and call law enforcement,” said Suzanne Severson, a member of Spirit of St. Stephen’s Church in Minneapolis.
Like many Catholics, Severson, a member of a group called Voice of the Faithful, logged into her computer after work Tuesday to read and watch portions of Nienstedt’s deposition, ordered as part of one of more than two dozen abuse lawsuits filed against the archdiocese in the past year. She was particularly interested in Nienstedt’s testimony about the Rev. Jonathan Shelley, who had been a priest at her church, she said.
To hear Nienstedt say that he couldn’t determine whether the pornography on Shelley’s computer was of adolescents or older boys, and that he didn’t report it, was particularly disturbing, she said.
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