MINNESOTA
Crux
By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter September 15, 2014
A group of theology professors from the largest Catholic university in Minnesota penned an open letter to the archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul, lamenting ongoing revelations of clergy sex abuse and “also to the manner in which these scandals have been handled.”
Addressed to Archbishop John Nienstedt, under fire for allegedly mishandling reports of clergy sex abuse, twelve tenured faculty members of St. Thomas University wrote, “Recent events have shown how badly the pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese has failed” to respond to the pastoral needs of Catholics there.
The group stopped short of calling for Nienstedt’s resignation, writing that they “remain committed to working and praying for the good of the whole archdiocese, including its pastoral leadership.”
Nienstedt has faced criticism for a number of scandals in recent months, including accusations from a former archdiocesan chancellor, Jennifer Haselberger, who claimed that church personnel knowingly turned a blind eye to accusations. Other employees have reported hostile working conditions in the chancery, and Nienstedt himself remains under a self-appointed archdiocesan investigation for sexual misconduct. Those allegations involve adult seminarians and priests, and date back before Nienstedt was archbishop. …
Signing the letter were Cara Anthony; Bernard Brady; Massimo Faggioli; Paul Gavrilyuk; Michael Hollerich; John Martens; Stephen McMichael; Paul Niskanen; David Penchansky; Gerald Schlabach; Ted Ulrich; and Paul Wojda.
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.