MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By AMY FORLITI Associated Press JUNE 15, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS — John Nienstedt’s term as leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was rocky almost from the start.
His conservative views became well-known when he launched an expensive and unapologetic fight against gay marriage. In the last two years, he was besieged by a clergy sex-abuse scandal that included numerous lawsuits from victims and led to bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the archdiocese was criminally charged for failing to protect children.
On Monday, Nienstedt stepped down, saying he wanted to give the archdiocese a fresh start after his leadership had “drawn attention away from” the church’s good works and “those who perform them.”
Nienstedt took over the St. Paul archdiocese in 2007, replacing moderate Archbishop Harry Flynn, and his conservative reputation preceded him. As bishop in the nearby New Ulm Diocese, Nienstedt had criticized his predecessor’s call for dialogue on opening the priesthood to women. He also chided a priest in the small town of St. Peter for worshipping with Lutherans on several occasions after a tornado destroyed the town’s Catholic church in 1998.
And he led a drive to pressure legislators for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman, a cause he would take up again in St. Paul.
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