MINNESOTA
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
Jennifer Haselberger on Current Status of Nienstedt Investigation: Contextual Information
This is a footnote to what I posted yesterday about the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and its choice to hire a high-powered criminal lawyer for its ongoing investigation of allegations that St. Paul-Minneapolis archbishop John Nienstedt has behaved inappropriately with adult males. Yesterday, at her blog site, the former chancellor for canonical affairs of the archdiocese, Jennifer Haselberger, who resigned her position last year in protest of the archdiocese’s handling of the abuse crisis, provides some information “by way of context” to interpret what’s going on now in the archdiocese.
We learn the following from this posting by someone who has strong reason to know what’s going on with the archdiocesan investigation “on the inside”:
1. “[M]y understanding has always been that it [i.e., the current investigation] originated with a group of well-meaning and influential people within the Archdiocese who, out of frustration with the growing calamity of leadership coupled with the Archbishop’s refusal to fall on his sword, saw such an investigation as a tool that could be used to pressure Nienstedt to resign.” (Note: Haselberger does not think the current investigation originated with the Holy See.)
2. “I know for a fact that certain individuals with more leverage than Father Laird had been attempting to convince the Archbishop to resign since approximately September of 2013, although I am not certain if the two groups are the same.”
3. “Where problems arose, in my opinion, was that Greene and Espel was determined to conduct a credible investigation, whatever the result, whereas those behind the investigation would (I believe) have preferred a little less success.” (Note: Greene and Espel is the firm that conducted the initial investigation, which the criminal lawyer I mentioned yesterday, Peter Wold, is now said by those in the know to be re-conducting [and second-guessing].)
4. “In other words, I think the purpose of the investigation was to get just enough information to entice the Archbishop to depart, without stirring up any additional trouble in the process.”
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.