Memo: nuncio curtailed investigation of Minnesota archbishop

July 21, 2016

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, then apostolic nuncio to the United States, directed that an investigation into Archbishop John Nienstedt’s alleged homosexual activity be curtailed, and subsequently asked two auxiliary bishops to destroy a letter about the case, according to a 2014 memo released on July 20 by prosecutors in Minnesota.

The memo’s author, identified in press reports as Father Daniel Griffith, served as liaison between the archdiocese and members of the investigative team. Archbishop Nienstedt, then archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, authorized the investigation into his alleged homosexual activity in January 2014.

In the memo—written in July 2014 after the investigation ceased—Father Griffith recounted in detail the history of the investigation. By April, ten affidavits contained “compelling” allegations of “sexual misconduct; sexual harassment; reprisals in response to the rejection of unwelcome advances; and excessive drinking.”

“Even if the Archbishop was innocent, the evidence was damaging enough that it would render him incapable of leading the Archdiocese,” wrote Father Griffith, who noted that the investigators still had 24 leads to pursue.

Auxiliary Bishops Lee Piché and Andrew Cozzens traveled to Washington to meet with the apostolic nuncio in the hopes of achieving a “pastoral solution” in which Archbishop Nienstedt resigned. Subsequently, the nuncio ordered the investigation curtailed—leading the auxiliary bishops to write a letter to the nuncio expressing their disagreement with that decision. According to the memo, the nuncio then asked the bishops to destroy their letter.

“The destruction of evidence is a crime under federal law and state law and the fact that this request was made of you by a papal representative to the United States is most distressing,” Father Griffith, who is also an attorney, said in his memo to Bishop Piché.

In the memo, Father Griffith also said that Archbishop Nienstedt’s predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, traveled to Rome to express his concerns about Archbishop Nienstedt’s alleged lifestyle to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, then prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Piché both resigned in 2015.

The release of the memo and other documents came along with an announcement that county prosecutors would not press criminal charges against the archdiocese in the case of Father Curtis Wehmeyer, who was assigned to a parish despite the archdiocese’s knowledge that he solicited sex from 19-year-old and 20-year-old males. Father Wehmeyer-- described by Father Griffith as having a “social relationship” with Archbishop Nienstedt-- subsequently abused two adolescents at the parish and is serving a five-year prison term.

The current archbishop, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, apologized for the archdiocese’s failure to prevent the abuse. In return for dropping of criminal charges, the archdiocese agreed to expand an agreement that had already been reached with law-enforcement officials last December, giving public officials authority to monitor and supervise the archdiocese in its handling of abuse complaints. That December agreement, in turn, had been struck in order to settle civil complaints against the archdiocese.

Following the release of the Griffith memo, Archbishop Nienstedt reiterated his denial of the allegations against him.

“I want to be clear and reiterate the public responses that I have made since the investigation began,” he said. “I am a heterosexual man who has been celibate my entire life. I have never solicited sex, improperly touched anyone and have not used my authority to cover up, or even try to cover up, any allegation of sexual abuse.”

The allegations, he added, were “a personal attack against me due to my unwavering stance on issues consistent with Catholic Church teaching, such as opposition to so-called same sex marriage.”

 

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Further information:

• Vatican emissary squashed Archbishop Nienstedt investigation, memo says (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Full text of memo
• Criminal charges dropped, Twin Cities Archdiocese admits wrongdoing in abuse case (AP)
• Did the Vatican halt an investigation into former Twin Cities Archbishop Nienstedt? (MPR)