MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn.
Nov 5, 2014
Church documents released Wednesday show that Archbishop John Nienstedt gave a false statement under oath about his knowledge of the Rev. Michael Stevens’ criminal conviction for sexually assaulting a child.
Nienstedt had testified as part of a lawsuit in April that he did not know that Stevens had pleaded guilty in the 1980s to child sex abuse while an associate priest at the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. However, documents from the archdiocese’s file on Stevens show that a chancery official reminded Nienstedt of Stevens’ criminal history every year. They include five documents signed by Nienstedt from 2009 to 2013 that indicated he received yearly reports on Stevens and that he approved of the priest’s monitoring plan.
MPR News has previously reported that Nienstedt made two other false statements during the April 2, 2014 deposition. Nienstedt testified falsely that he had only recently learned of the criminal conviction of the Rev. Gilbert Gustafson.
He also testified inaccurately that he did not know until recently that the Rev. Kenneth LaVan had remained in ministry. LaVan has been accused of sexually abusing children, a charge he denies.
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