A news article published last week by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed how the Norbertines, a Catholic religious order, apparently deliberately misled child sex abuse victim Nate Lindstrom about the findings of the outside group that investigated his accusations. We cannot help but wonder how many other times Church officials have used this ploy on survivors, parishioners, and the public to conceal the information and advice they receive? We urge Praesidium to publicly denounce that behavior and to refuse to work with the Norbertines in the future.

Nate Lindstrom, who had accused three Norbertine priests of child sexual abuse, had been receiving monthly support from the order since 2009. In 2018, when a new abbot came on board, Nate received a letter from the Norbertine’s attorney, who wrote that Praesidium, the outside group charged with investigating Nate’s allegations, had found his accusations “non-credible” and would find Nate a therapist and…