MINNESOTA
Minnesota SNAP
For immediate release: Sunday, Oct. 6
Statement by Bob Schwiderski of Wayzata, Minnesota SNAP director ( 952 471 3422, skibrs@q.com )
Nienstadt is using a pathetic public relations maneuver to distract and mollify outraged parishioners – the creation of a new panel to look at church abuse guidelines. It’s probably a smart PR move. But it won’t help protect kids or expose complicity.
The behavior of church officials, not their policies and procedures, is the problem. And no words on paper will change the self-serving, secretive and recklessness of top Catholic officials. Only public exposure and harsh punishment can do this.
(NOTE – Clergy abuse victims will leaflet today, Sunday, at 4:40 outside the Cathedral in St. Paul. Details to follow soon.)
There are several problems here.
First, no panel is “independent” if it’s head is appointed by the suspected wrongdoer it is supposed to examine.
Second, no priest has the expertise or independence to do this job well. (Fr. Whitt may have tons of training in church theology or history of music. We doubt he has tons of training in child protection.)
Third, remember, Nienstadt already has an abuse panel. It’s been around for at least a decade. And it’s the panel that has done nothing while top archdiocesan officials hid the sex crimes and misconduct of Fr. Shelley and Fr. Wehmeyer (and likely others). It’s the panel that remains silent even now. And it’s the panel that Nienstadt and his predecessors have repeatedly called “independent.”
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