MINNESOTA
KARE
Jay Olstad, KARE July 31, 2014
ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a rare series of interviews, Archbishop John Nienstedt sat down with KARE 11 and other news outlets to answer questions about the growing concerns over his handling of clergy sex abuse.
For months, his critics have called for his resignation. Nienstedt said he’s not going anywhere.
“We want people to know we are not just sitting here taking our licks. We’ve been working very, very hard and I have whole new team in place now,” he said.
He said the church has made improvements, including beefing up monitoring programs for priests who have abused in the past. He also said church officials have reviewed 3,000 priest files and are implementing recommendations from an archdiocese task force.
Nienstedt took over as Archbishop in 2008 and one year later assigned Father Curtis Wehmeyer to be the pastor at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul.
He did this despite warnings by some church officials about Wehmeyer’s past sexual behavior, including a time where he allegedly solicited young men for sex in a coffee shop. Nienstedt said the allegations did not involve young children.
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