MINNESOTA
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News – August 01, 2014

Having rejected calls for his resignation, Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis has said that he made a mistake in assuming that his predecessor had dealt properly with sex-abuse allegations against archdiocesan priests.

Archbishop Nienstedt told an interviewer that when he arrived in Minnesota, he was assured by his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, and by the vicar general, Father Kevin McDonough, that sex-abuse problems had been resolved. He said that he accepted their assurances because of their “national reputations for being experts in this area.” (Archbishop Flynn had chaired the US bishops’ committee on sexual abuse.) “But I think that I know now I could have asked more probing questions,” Archbishop Nienstedt said.