MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation
06/19/2015
Jennifer Haselberger
There is little doubt that Monday’s announcement of the double-resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Piche was a pivotal moment for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. While much remains unknown about what happened and why, I think almost everyone would agree that the resignations, and the appointment of Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Bernard Hebda, are important steps forward. Question remains, however, regarding what further actions need to take place to prevent this from becoming another lost opportunity, and another heartbreaking breach of trust between the Church and its faithful. Let me offer a few suggestions.
1). The Archdiocese needs to stop lying- to itself and to others
For years, if not for decades, the leadership of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has been intentionally misleading, deceiving, or otherwise misrepresenting itself and its actions to the lay faithful, the clergy, the civil authorities, and even to the universal Church. By doing so, the Archdiocese has created a situation where ‘doing the right thing’ has often become impossible because it would mean exposing or acknowledging previous deceptions.
You do not have to take my word for it. There is sufficient evidence publicly available now to convince even the most stalwart supporter of our embattled Church that the Chancery deliberately misled the public. Take, for instance, a March 31, 2011, article in The Catholic Spirit (below) where my former colleague assures the faithful that ‘We can safely say that today there’s no clergy in a ministerial position who have been credibly accused of child abuse…We know that for certain’. This statement, we now know, was made after Chancery officials had learned that Father Wehmeyer had been found sharing the bed of one of his minor victims. That fact, along with the rash of removals and public notices since September of 2013, establish the 2011 statement as patently untrue, but in order to truly appreciate how the lies have built upon themselves you should review these email exchanges (email one, and email two) between that same coworker and I from July of 2012- after we had learned of arrest of Curtis Wehmeyer on charges of sexual abuse.
These type of lies did not stop once the public became aware of Curtis Wehmeyer’s history, as is evident from the Archbishop’s interview with Minnesota Public Radio in October of 2013, or even his deposition- taken under oath- in April of 2014. The falsehoods, deceptions, and misrepresentations also were not limited to statements by Archbishop Nienstedt or his staff, as was made clear in a December 2013 hearing in the Doe 1 case when attorneys for the Archdiocese claimed that there had only been one priest accused of sexually abusing a minor since 2004. At that time the Archdiocese and its attorneys were aware of several other accusations post-2004, including one involving Father Fredy Montero that had been reported by Nienstedt to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2008 and had ended in a settlement negotiated by the same law firm.
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