MINNESOTA
KARE
Boua Xiong, KARE 7 p.m. EST December 15, 2013
EDINA–It was standing room only inside Our Lady of Grace Church as Archbishop John Nienstedt made a rare public appearance to address the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic church.
On Sunday he apologized from the pulpit and read a homily verbatim. In it he told parishioners “you deserve better….with your prayer and God’s grace I believe that we will emerge from this difficult period to become a stronger, more focused, more prayerful and more purified local church.”
He later addressed media about the Archdiocese’s plans moving forward, but would not take questions.
“When I arrived here seven years ago one of the first things I was told was that this whole question of clerical sex abuse had been taken care of,” Nienstedt said.
He says he was just as surprised as everyone else when he learned the extent of clergy sex abuse.
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