MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota
Bill Hudson
ST. PAUL (WCCO) — Archbishop John Nienstedt has been on the forefront of the clergy sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church for the better part of 30 years.
“This is a beginning of a reckoning,” St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson said.
From his St. Paul law offices, flanked by two men who survived priest sex abuse, Anderson called it a global crisis that is finally beginning to change.
He called Monday’s resignations of the Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche as a sign from Rome that the Vatican is ready to start moving forward and repair past wrongs.
“The resignations forced under pressure and accepted by the Vatican demonstrate an incremental realization that they have to do something,” Anderson said.
The lawyer is representing Al Michaud and Jim Keenan, both of whom were abused by their priests as young boys.
Michaud admits the resignations caught him totally by surprise.
“I got the blip on my phone and went, wow, that’s huge,” he 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.