MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 07/30/2014
Responding to calls for his resignation, Archbishop John Nienstedt said Wednesday that he will remain at the helm of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Nienstedt has come under fire in recent months for his handling of clergy sex abuse cases.
“I have acknowledged my responsibility in the current crisis we face, and I also take responsibility for leading our archdiocese to a new and better day,” Nienstedt wrote in a column to be published in Thursday’s Catholic Spirit newsletter.
That “crisis” is the result of accusations and lawsuits against the Archdiocese, church officials and priests regarding alleged child abuse and what some have called cover-up of crimes.
Critics say Nienstedt and his predecessors did not take action to remove credibly accused priests from the ministry.
Nienstedt said he will not resign and will, instead, “apply these hard lessons that I have learned over the past months.”
The archbishop said that he is creating “a new leadership team that operates under the philosophy of ‘Victims First’ ” and that he’s appointing a victim liaison. Nienstedt said the church has reached out to victims of abuse for their input.
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.