MINNSOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: KELLY SMITH , Star Tribune Updated: December 14, 2013
Archbishop John Nienstedt will be at an Edina church Sunday and is expected to address the ongoing priest misconduct scandal.
The top leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to be at an Edina church on Sunday and will apologize to the community in the wake of the priest sexual misconduct scandal.
Archbishop John Nienstedt will give the homily Sunday at Our Lady of Grace Church in Edina and according to an advance copy of his remarks, he is expected to tell parishioners: “I am here to apologize for the indignation that you justifiably feel. You deserve better.”
The apology comes as Twin Cities Catholics confront a growing wave of allegations in recent months of priest sexual abuse and accusations that some Catholic leaders ignored warnings of sexual misconduct.
“The negative news reports about past incidents of clerical sexual abuse in this local church have rightly been met with shame, embarrassment and outrage that such heinous acts could be perpetrated by men who had taken priestly vows as well as bishops who failed to remove them from ministry,” Nienstedt wrote in the homily, which some churches have posted in advance of Sunday’s masses.
The statements follow the release last week of the names of 34 priests accused of child sex abuse — an unprecedented move in Minnesota that was prompted by a court order. On Monday, the Diocese of Winona will unveil at least 13 names of accused priests, under the same Ramsey County Court order that required the Twin Cities archdiocese to release its list.
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.