MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Minnesota Catholics said Monday they were shocked by Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement.
Rev. John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, said in a statement that “like Catholics across the world, I was completely surprised.”
“At the same time, I am saddened by the thought of losing his strong leadership for the church,” the statement continued. “When my fellow Bishops and I met with him last March, his pastoral reflections about each of our dioceses–and this local Church in particular–were insightful as well as inspirational. …
Bob Schwiderski, director of the Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said that Benedict “didn’t finish the job.”
“There are still thousands of survivors who have not been responded to pastorally,” he said. Schwiderski had hoped when Benedict was elected that he might “do the right thing,” he said, “And he didn’t do it.”
Schwiderski said that Benedict’s legacy will be stained by the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. “As far as I’m concerned, they can give him the title ‘the enabler,'” he said. “The protector of the perps.”
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