MICHIGAN
MLive
By Julie Mack | jmack1@mlive.com
on January 23, 2016
What were they thinking?
Did the officials in Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo really see it as no big deal to bring in John Nienstedt, the former St. Paul and Minneapolis archbishop, as a visiting priest at St. Philip parish in Battle Creek?
They truly didn’t anticipate this would blow up into a big controversy, one likely to end badly?
Nobody considered whether this would underscore — once again — the inexplicable obtuseness of Church officials in regards to issues around clergy sex abuse?
To those who haven’t been following the story, here’s the basic outline.
Nienstedt resigned as Twin Cities archbishop in June. That resignation came in the wake of criminal charges filed against the archdiocese for “failure to protect children” in ignoring numerous red flags involving a former priest currently in prison for abusing two boys.
In fact, the archdiocese’s track record on protecting predatory priests was so bad it filed for bankruptcy last year, citing liabilities from lawsuits.
There also are accusations Nienstedt himself made inappropriate advances toward other priests years ago. Findings of an internal investigation have never been released, but Minnesota Public Radio has said it included affidavits that had Nienstedt’s advisors urging him to resign in 2014.
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