MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN
The Guardian (UK)
Amanda Holpuch in New York
@holpuch
Wednesday 13 January 2016
A Minnesota archbishop who was forced to resign when his diocese faced criminal and civil charges related to sexual abuse by clergy has been appointed assistant priest at a church in Michigan.
Saint Philip Roman Catholic church in Kalamazoo announced this week that it had appointed former St Paul and Minneapolis archbishop John Nienstedt to assist the parish while its head pastor dealt with medical issues.
Nienstedt resigned in June 2015, days after Ramsey County attorney John Choi filed criminal and civil charges against the archdiocese. Choi alleged at the time that the archdiocese “time and time again turned a blind eye” to clerical sex abuse. It was the first time a US archdiocese had faced such charges in a decade.
The civil suit was settled in December, but the criminal charges are pending in county court.
Pastor John Fleckenstein of Saint Philip Roman Catholic church in Battle Creek, Michigan, announced that Nienstedt would be assisting him in a church bulletin on 10 January.
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