Archbishop Nienstedt Steps Aside As Police Investigate Allegation, Say Church Not Cooperating in Other Cases
By Emily Gurnon and Nick Woltman
A clearly frustrated St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith said Tuesday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has failed to cooperate with investigations into alleged clerical sex abuse. "We have through written and verbal requests made clear our desire to speak to individuals connected with the archdiocese, and we've been told no," Smith said at a news conference. His comments came several hours after the Roman Catholic archdiocese said Archbishop John Nienstedt has been accused of "inappropriate touching" of a boy on the buttocks in 2009. The allegation, which Nienstedt strongly denied, was brought to police by a mandated reporter within the church and prompted him to step aside from his public ministry during a police investigation, the archdiocese said in a statement.
The archdiocese said church officials, including Nienstedt, "stand ready to cooperate fully with the St. Paul police." Smith did not provide details about the investigation regarding Nienstedt, which he said was about 24 hours old. He said police had not yet tried to talk with the archbishop about the allegation. Smith said the archdiocese has repeatedly said it is working with police on abuse investigations. But if that's the case, he said, "you need to have access to individuals that work within that institution." Smith said his comments about the archdiocese's lack of cooperation did not pertain to the Nienstedt matter. Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, vicar general, will take over Nienstedt's responsibilities, the statement said. The Rev. Charles Lachowitzer continues as vicar general and moderator of the curia. In a letter addressed to "Brothers and Sisters in Christ" and sent to reporters, Nienstedt said he learned of the allegation last weekend. He said it came from a young man he had anointed in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The boy alleged that the touching took place during a group photo session. "I do not know the individual involved; he has not been made known to me," Nienstedt said in the letter. "I presume he is sincere in believing what he claims, but I must say that this allegation is absolutely and entirely false." Nienstedt said he typically stands for such photos with one hand on his crozier, or staff, and the other on either the right shoulder of a child or on the short stole that hangs from his chest. "I do that deliberately, and there are hundreds of photographs to verify that fact," he said. The archbishop said twice in his letter that he has never abused a minor. The surprise announcement came two days after Nienstedt gave the homily at Our Lady of Grace church in Edina and apologized for having "overlooked" the question of clerical sexual abuse by other priests. Speaking with reporters, he said staff members told him the problem "had been taken care of and I didn't have to worry about it. Unfortunately, I believed that." Outside the Cathedral of St. Paul on Tuesday evening, parishioners expressed shock and disbelief at the accusation against Nienstedt. A woman on her way to 5 p.m. Mass said she found it difficult to believe that Nienstedt -- whom she said she knows personally -- would inappropriately touch a boy. Paul Bredehoft, 56, said allegations such as this one have become a serious issue for the Catholic Church in recent years. "It's a sad state of affairs," said Bredehoft, a lifelong Catholic. "If it's true, he's got some serious problems. ... But just because he's a priest at my church, I wouldn't cut him any slack. If you've got a problem, you've got to go." The archdiocese and Nienstedt have been under intense scrutiny since September. Spurred by a whistle-blower who worked among top church officials, news accounts have exposed failures by the church to report to police possible criminal activity by priests. Officials did not report allegations that former Mahtomedi priest Jonathan Shelley had possible child pornography on his computer, and they did not alert law enforcement or parishioners to a St. Paul priest who exhibited "troublesome" sexual behavior. The priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, was convicted this year of molesting two boys. Police reopened an investigation of Shelley in October; it is ongoing. On Oct. 16, St. Paul police held a news conference as the scandal unfolded, calling on victims of clergy sexual abuse to come forward. During Tuesday's briefing at police headquarters, Smith named one archdiocesan official who had declined -- through his attorney -- to talk with police. That official is the Rev. Kevin McDonough, who served for years as vicar general, the archbishop's top deputy, and was deeply involved in many of the archdiocese's decisions about accused priests. Smith said police scheduled a meeting with an archdiocesan attorney Wednesday after he sent a letter to Nienstedt about two weeks ago "asking to speak to some of his clergy staff about processes within the archdiocese" regarding abuse claims. No search warrants have been filed with the archdiocese, Smith said, because police need more access to officials. "You need probable cause to get search warrants, and to do that, you need to be able to talk to people, and we haven't been able to do that so far," the chief said. The archdiocese said it "greatly appreciates" Smith's comments and looked forward to the Wednesday meeting. In addition to an attorney, the new vicar general will attend, spokesman James Accurso said. "Our hope was that, through this meeting, which the police set for tomorrow, we could better understand the requests for information in greater detail," he said. Critics had called for Nienstedt's resignation in the wake of the allegations against other priests and how the church hierarchy had responded to them. Nienstedt was appointed to lead the Twin Cities archdiocese in 2008, when he was bishop of the New Ulm Diocese in southern Minnesota. A flurry of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by clergy have been filed since May. That was when a new state law took effect that temporarily lifts the civil statute of limitations for underage sex-abuse victims. Early in his tenure, Nienstedt was confronted with allegations that members of the Twin Cities clergy sexually abused children. In May 2009, a former Catholic brother at Cretin High School in St. Paul and DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis was accused of sexually abusing teenage students in the 1970s. After one of the alleged victims was named by the school's principal in a letter to parents, the Minnesota chapter of the victim-advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for disciplinary action against Nienstedt, saying he failed to take appropriate action against the principal. The Catholic brother, Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose, then 76, was not criminally charged because the statute of limitations on the alleged abuse had expired. Nationally, 22 bishops have been accused of sexually abusing children, according to BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abuse allegations against priests and other clergy. They include Paul V. Dudley, who was accused of fondling an 11- or 12-year-old altar boy in the 1950s when he was a priest at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Dudley denied the allegations. A church investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. He became a Twin Cities auxiliary bishop, holding that position from 1976 to 1978 before he was named a bishop in the Sioux Fall (S.D.) Diocese. Another accused bishop with a Minnesota connection is James S. Rausch. He was accused in 2001 of giving money to a 17-year-old Tucson, Ariz., boy, having sex with him repeatedly and "passing the boy on" to two other priests, according to the Boston Globe. Rausch was the bishop in Phoenix at the time. He had previously served as a priest in St. Cloud. As it has in recent announcements, the archdiocese urged anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse in the church to call police. St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, whose office has represented thousands of sex abuse victims, declined to comment, saying he did not have direct information about the allegation. "It's in the hands of the police, which is where it needs to be," Anderson said. Nienstedt, born in Detroit in 1947, was ordained a priest in July 1974. He became a bishop in the archdiocese of Detroit in 1996, after he spent more than two decades working for the church in several capacities around the Detroit area. He was appointed bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm in 2001. In April 2007, the Vatican said Nienstedt would succeed Harry Flynn as archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was installed in May 2008. A vocal opponent of abortion, homosexual activity and same-sex marriage, Nienstedt's appointment in the Twin Cities was seen by many Catholics as a move by the Vatican toward more conservative leadership. Nienstedt was a leader in the campaign for the marriage amendment, which would have defined marriage in Minnesota as being between a man and a woman. Nienstedt sent a letter to Twin Cities priests and deacons, warning them not to publicly oppose the measure, which was on the ballot in November 2012. "There ought not be open dissension on this issue," Nienstedt said in the letter. "If any have personal reservations, I do not wish that they be shared publicly." Voters rejected the marriage amendment, and same-sex marriage became legal this year. Emily Gurnon can be reached at egurnon@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon. Nick Woltman can be reached at nwoltman@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5189. Follow him on Twitter at @nickwoltman.
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