Archbishop John Nienstedt's Years in the Twin Cities

The Minnesota Public Radio
December 17, 2013

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/2013/12/17/nienstedt/

Archbishop John Nienstedt discusses the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis' 2010 consolidation plan, which included closing 21 churches the following year, at his office in St. Paul in October 2010.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced Dec. 17 that Archbishop John Nienstedt voluntarily "stepped aside from all public ministry" while police investigate an allegation that he touched a boy on the buttocks in 2009.

In doing so, Nienstedt became the first sitting U.S. bishop to voluntarily relinquish some of his duties because of a police investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a priest and canon lawyer who worked at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Nienstedt denied the allegation.

"I must say that this allegation is absolutely and entirely false," the archbishop wrote in a letter posted on the archdiocese's website. "I have never once engaged in any inappropriate contact with a minor."

During the investigation, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche will assume the archbishop's public duties during the investigation, according to a statement from the archdiocese.