MINNESOTA
MinnPost
By Brian Lambert
It may be time for the archbishop to hold a press conference … The latest from MPR’s Madeleine Baran says: “Archbishop John Nienstedt was in the middle of a heated political fight over same-sex marriage in February of last year when he learned of a disturbing secret, hidden in the basement of the chancery — pornography from a priest’s computer, some of which appeared to depict children. … What followed was a contentious, yearlong debate among top leaders inside the chancery about whether the images met the legal definition of child pornography, according to internal church documents that Haselberger provided to police earlier this year and were obtained by MPR News. The documents shed new light on the Shelley case and provide a closer look at decisions that Nienstedt and former Archbishop Harry Flynn made to keep the matter quiet and continue Shelley in ministry. … Among the documents is a letter drafted by Nienstedt to the Vatican, dated May 29, 2012, in which he worries that ‘the images in [Shelley’s] personnel file could expose the Archdiocese, as well as myself, to criminal prosecution.’ ”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.