Ex-Archbishop John Nienstedt goes to Michigan parish

MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune JANUARY 13, 2016

Former Archbishop John Nienstedt’s next post is in Battle Creek, Mich., where he will help the pastor of St. Philip Roman Catholic Church.

St. Philip’s pastor announced Neinstedt’s arrival in the Sunday bulletin. Nienstedt resigned from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in June after the Ramsey County attorney’s offices filed civil and criminal charges claiming that the church had failed to protect children from clergy sex abuse.

The Rev. John Fleckenstein wrote that Nienstedt will help him and other priests in the parish with various duties until the summer. He has not been formally assigned to the parish, he said.

“He 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. He will also celebrate some Masses on Sundays around the Diocese when there is a priest who needs to be away,” Fleckenstein wrote.

Fleckenstein said he is undergoing treatment for epilepsy at the Mayo Clinic and expected to be hospitalized in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit.

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