Sex Abuse Victims Demand More Action on Michigan Archbishop Issue

By Rosemary Parker
MLive
January 27, 2016

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2016/01/sex_abuse_victims_demand_more.html

SNAP President Barbara Blaine and Phillip Frederickson hold signs and pictures of children sexually abused by priests during a call-to-action at the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 in which they hand-delivered a letter to the diocese to publicly urge Michigan bishops to seek out anyone who may have been hurt by a now-disgraced Twin Cities Archbishop. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette)

Victims of sexual abuse by priests and their supporters staged a demonstration here Tuesday to show they are not satisfied with the swift removal last week of a controversial Roman Catholic archbishop from the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul who had come to a parish in Battle Creek.

Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned from his archdiocese in June after it was hit with civil and criminal charges that church officials had repeatedly failed to act on complaints of a priest who was eventually convicted of molesting three boys.

Nienstedt arrived at St. Philip parish in Battle Creek Jan. 6 at the invitation of the pastor there and had planned to stay six months, voluntarily helping out the Rev. John Fleckenstein, an old friend.

The Diocese of Kalamazoo initially had approved Nienstedt's work here, citing documentation from his superiors that he was a priest in good standing.

But the archbishop moved on on Jan. 21 after parents, community members and victims of clergy sex crimes protested his presence.

His departure and Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley's letter of apology for underestimating the upset he would cause were not enough to satisfy members of SNAP, Survivors Network of the Abused by Priests, a national network of concerned Catholics and survivors of sex abuse by clergy.

Seven people posted photos and messages on the fences outside the office of the Diocese of Kalamazoo Tuesday afternoon, asking that the diocese host a public meeting to discuss how Nienstedt wound up in Battle Creek. They also asked the church to punish Fleckenstein, the pastor who brought Neinstedt here, for his failure to tell parishioners of the archbishop's history of scandal in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

They publicly urged Michigan bishops to seek out anyone who may have been hurt by Nienstedt.

Finally, they asked Bradley to reveal whether other "sexually troubled or complicit clerics" are serving anywhere in the diocese.

The Diocese of Kalamazoo said the bishop's earlier response to the situation, explained in a letter last week, has resolved the matter.

"I believe Bishop (Paul) Bradley's letter to the faithful covers our response," spokesperson Vicki Cessna said Tuesday afternoon.

Click here to read the Bishop's statement.

Click here to read the introductory letter from Fr John Fleckenstein in its entirety.

Read more:

Catholics, community react to priest's arrival amid sex abuse backdrop

Catholic archbishop in Minnesota abuse scandal comes to Michigan parish

Read the criminal complaint against the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis here.

Rosemary Parker is a reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette and MLive.com. Contact her at rparker3@mlive.com.

rparker3@mlive.com