MICHIGAN
RT
John Nienstedt resigned as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2015 after he allegedly ignored repeated warnings of a sexually abusive priest. He has now taken a temporary position at a church in Michigan, to the alarm of parishioners.
Beginning on January 6, St. Philip Catholic Church in Battle Creek invited Nienstedt to assist with saying masses and other duties within the Diocese of Kalamazoo while his friend, Father John Fleckenstein, attends to health issues and other projects for the diocese.
The church announced the move in a bulletin earlier this month. Nienstedt, 68, “will celebrate some of the weekend and weekday Masses, visit the sick in the hospital, visit the sick and homebound, and celebrate Mass for the nursing home and assisted living facilities,” Fleckenstein’s memo said. “He will also celebrate some Masses on Sundays around the Diocese when there is a priest who needs to be away. … While the Archbishop is not ‘assigned’ to the parish, I’m grateful he will assist us in these next few months.”
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