MICHIGAN
MLive
By Rosemary Parker | rparker3@mlive.com
on January 21, 2016
KALAMAZOO, MI – The bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo told Catholics today that he should have anticipated their distress at news that an archbishop embroiled in a sex scandal in Minnesota had been accepted in Battle Creek for parish work.
Archbishop John Neinstedt’s departure from this diocese was announced Thursday morning, just two weeks after his quiet arrival in Battle Creek, where he had planned to stay for six months to help the pastor there, an old friend, who is ill.
There was an immediate hue and cry from parents, community members, former clergy sex abuse victims and other who objected to Nienstedt’s move here, especially since there was only late mention of his notoriety after stories in Minnesota and Michigan detailed his history.
Nienstedt and his high-ranking clergy in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St Paul are accused of repeatedly ignoring warnings that went on for years about sexually abusive priests, and of failing to contact law enforcement to report possible criminal acts they knew about. He resigned from his post after the archdiocese was charged with civil and criminal complaints last summer.
In a letter distributed to priests in the Kalamazoo diocese Thursday and posted on the Diocese of Kalamazoo’s website and Facebook page, Bishop Paul Bradley wrote that he “should have foreseen the full impact and strong emotional reaction” to the presence of the archbishop.
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