MICHIGAN
MLive
By Rosemary Parker | rparker3@mlive.com
on January 14, 2016
KALAMAZOO, MI — A Roman Catholic archbishop who was accused of failing to protect children from sexual abuse and resigned in the wake of the civil and criminal charges against his archdiocese of Minneapolis has taken on new work, assisting at St. Philip parish in Battle Creek.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Kalamazoo confirmed Wednesday that Archbishop Emeritus John C. Nienstedt arrived at the Battle Creek parish Jan.6.
Just a few weeks earlier, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis signed a 28-page settlement agreement that ended a civil lawsuit brought against the Roman Catholic archdiocese by three victims of sexual abuse by a priest. The lawsuit, and related criminal charges, were the first in the country ever launched against an archdiocese for complicity in sex abuse cases.
Criminal charges accusing the archdiocese of repeatedly ignoring complaints of priestly misconduct are still pending. The priest convicted in 2013 of molesting boys is now in prison.
Nienstedt, the imprisoned priest’s former boss, “has volunteered to assist temporarily the pastor of St. Philip Parish in Battle Creek in light of the pastor’s ongoing serious health challenges,” the statement from the Kalamazoo Diocese said.
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.