MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: September 15, 2014 – 8:41 PM
St. Thomas theology educators are urging the archbishop to quickly start the healing process.
Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt has agreed to meet with University of St. Thomas professors after they sent him an e-mail over the weekend urging immediate action to repair damage caused by child sex abuse investigations.
A dozen tenured professors in the university’s theology department signed off on the e-mail in reaction to a lawsuit that alleges clergy sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and decades of coverup carried out by high-ranking church officials.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office is also reviewing evidence for possible criminal charges in 10 cases of alleged sex abuse of minors by priests.
“The Archdiocese is in a spiritual crisis as well as a legal crisis,” read the professors’ letter, dated Sept. 12.
The professors urged Nienstedt to begin reconciliation with parishioners, to meet directly with parishioners and to increase the presence of lay people in the archdiocese to avoid an insular culture.
“This is having a dramatic impact on the people in the pews,” Bernard Brady, chair of the Theology Department, said Monday of the sex abuse investigations. “We all know people who have … left the church.”
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