Archbishop John Nienstedt declares he won’t step down

[Elizium23]

Archbishop John Nienstedt declares he won’t step down

Archbishop John Nienstedt declared he will not resign as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and insisted the archdiocese has turned the corner on the clergy abuse scandal and is now “in a much better place.”

In a series of media interviews Wednesday — his first in six years — and in a column published Thursday in the Catholic Spirit newspaper, Nienstedt apologized for the “distractions” of the controversy and acknowledged he had lost the confidence of some followers — but that he was working to earn that back.

In his 20-minute interview with the Star Tribune, a poised Nienstedt calmly took on questions on clergy sex abuse, the financial stability of the church and his own sexuality.

 

[Cricket2]

Well if the Church wants him to resign (Does she?), I doubt he would have a choice. If it is the secular world, well tough on them. If he was any part of a coverup he should resign, otherwise we need to stop holding everyone accountable for the disgusting behavior of a few.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

This scandal is 10% about the sexual abuse itself, 90% about the way the bishops handled it for decades. I don’t know enough about Archbishop Nienstedt to comment on him specifically, even if such direct commentary was prudent and permitted in these forums, but we need to acknowledge the truth behind the scandal.

 

[Elizium23]

Ultra-liberal Minnesota Public Radio published an investigative series on Nienstedt offering evidence that purports to show that he is complicit in the sexual abuse scandal and no better than his predecessors. Whether this evidence is compelling or credible or not, I don’t know. If not then he is clearly a victim of demonic liberal forces that want him out. Thankfully whoever we might get in his stead will not satisfy them either, because the Holy Father is almost as good at appointing bishops as his two predecessors were.

 

[JimG]

I think that in the eyes of the media, his primary sin is having campaigned against same sex marriage. If he changed his opinion on that tomorrow, all would be forgiven.

 

[Elizium23]

I think that in the eyes of the media, his primary sin is having campaigned against same sex marriage. If he changed his opinion on that tomorrow, all would be forgiven.

Yes. The situation is precarious, because it is not unusual that someone who campaigns against homosexualism is himself found to be homosexual. It has happened to a good many politicians; I don’t know about clergy.

Isn’t it so hypocritical? With so much of the sexual abuse scandal being pederasty and homosexuality, the media wants to ignore that and claim it was pure pedophilia, because God forbid that homosexuality get a bad name.

 

[EnglishTeacher]

Ultra-liberal Minnesota Public Radio published an investigative series on Nienstedt offering evidence that purports to show that he is complicit in the sexual abuse scandal and no better than his predecessors. Whether this evidence is compelling or credible or not, I don’t know. If not then he is clearly a victim of demonic liberal forces that want him out. Thankfully whoever we might get in his stead will not satisfy them either, because the Holy Father is almost as good at appointing bishops as his two predecessors were.

We will see how it goes, but if I had to guess, I would say that this is another attack by the liberals that hate him and want him gone. He made a lot of enemies by taking a stand for traditional marriage in Minnesota.

 

[jpotato]

for now, his authority should be defended. st clement wrote to the corinthians that the churches authority comes from god not the people (very heavily paraphrased). this is between the Archbishop, the Apostolic Nuncio and Papa Francis.
that being said, if there is a concern about someones conduct it needs to be brought to the attention of someone higher up. a newspaper is not the proper forum for those types of accusations. please pray for our clergy.

 

[estesbob]

He should step down only if instructed to by the Pope. He works for the Vicar of Christ-not NPR

 

[Neofight]

This scandal is 10% about the sexual abuse itself, 90% about the way the bishops handled it for decades. I don’t know enough about Archbishop Nienstedt to comment on him specifically, even if such direct commentary was prudent and permitted in these forums, but we need to acknowledge the truth behind the scandal.

I agree with you on the judgment, so let’s remove the Archbishop and the diocese from the equation.

That leaves us with This scandal is 10% about the sexual abuse itself, 90% about the way the bishops handled it for decades…

I’m hoping I am misunderstanding, so please clarify for me, because it sounds like you are saying the abuse is not that significant, only the administration of investigation is.

The point I’m getting at is, it sounds like you are saying, “well, there weren’t really that many people abused, so lets get over it, and move on to the administration of justice”.

It may be numerically a 10/90 split, but that 10% is equal if not far more devastating a sin (and crime) than just ignoring or covering up the events.

Actually, I don’t think we can separate the two. The scandal is one event with many components, but no one component is more (or less) severe than another.