MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Joe Soucheray
POSTED: 11/16/2013

If I were the archbishop, and the chances of that are certainly off the board, I would call a news conference. In fact, I would call one every day if I had to just to keep pace with attorney Jeff Anderson and the St. Paul police, who have reopened an investigation of a child pornography case involving a former Hugo priest.

I was made privy to a letter that Archbishop John Nienstedt apparently sent to Catholic school principals assuring them that the archdiocese is on the job and taking full responsibility for its failure to act more thoroughly on past charges of abusive priests. It was … wooden. It was too written by committee without heartfelt personality. It was boilerplate, is what it was.

This is not the time for boilerplate. The vibe emanating from the chancery offices is off…