MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary
June 16, 2017
Joelle Casteix
In 2013, Minnesota passed a landmark bill that allowed victims of child sexual abuse to use the civil courts to expose their abuser, no matter when the abuse took place. We are hoping to get one passed in New York right now.
Ensuing lawsuits showed that the Archdiocese under Archbishop John Nienstedt (pictured above) and his predecessors actively covered up the sexual abuse of minors for decades. It was bad. Really bad.
Then, allegations began to swirl about Nienstedt himself—allegations that he lived an openly gay lifestyle, propositioned seminarians, and caused all kinds of problems while he was a priest in Detroit and Rome. His favorite gay bar? The Happy Tap in Windsor, Canada. And he loved to have a good time.
In 2014, an independent law firm was hired by the Archdiocese to investigate numerous allegations against Neinstedt. Ten seminarians came forward providing affidavits saying that if they refused Nienstedt’s sexual advances, he would interfere with their careers. Sound familiar?
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