MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal
By TOM CORRIGAN
June 15, 2015
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, whose top two officials resigned Monday in wake of criminal charges over the alleged failure to protect children from abusive priests, is facing an unprecedented convergence of litigation that lawyers say will continue to pose serious challenges for the archdiocese’s leadership.
In a statement Monday, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, who stepped aside along with Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche, said he resigned to give the archdiocese a new beginning.
“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” he said.
The resignations and recent criminal charges come as church leaders across the country continue to grapple with widespread allegations of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and related lawsuits. The abuse scandal has cost dioceses and other Catholic institutions in the U.S. nearly $2.9 billion since 2004 in compensation paid out to alleged victims, according to a recent report issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“We’re at a new turning point, because we’ve never had criminal issues in the midst of a Roman Catholic bankruptcy,” said Patrick Wall, a former priest who now works for Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm representing a group of alleged abuse victims. “The system is converging and applying full pressure through civil, criminal and bankruptcy courts.”
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