Archbishop Nienstedt leaves Michigan parish after protests

January 21, 2016

Archbishop John Nienstedt has left the parish in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he had been working, because of opposition from some parishioners.

Archbishop Nienstedt, who resigned last June from his post as Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis after a Minnesota prosecutor filed criminal charges for failure to report sex-abuse complaints, had been helping out at St. Philip’s church, functioning as an ordinary parish priest (although he retains the status of an archbishop). But his presence apparently prompted complaints, and the archbishop made the decision to leave rather than provoke antagonisms.

In a related story, an advocacy group for sex-abuse victims has criticized the pastoral work of another bishop who retired after a criminal conviction related to his handling of sex-abuse complaints. Bishop Robert Finn, who once headed the Diocese of Kansas City, Missouri, is now acting as chaplain of a convent in Nebraska. SNAP—the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests—protested that even in this assignment the bishop “may well again have the chance to report or conceal child sex crimes and repeat his offense.”

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Scandal-plagued archbishop leaving B.C. (Battle Creek Enquirer)
• Advocacy group decries ‘risk’ of Lincoln Diocese hiring disgraced bishop (World-Herald)
• Archbishop Nienstedt, who resigned last year, now doing parish work (CWN, 1/13)
• Bishop Finn, who resigned last year after criminal conviction, now working as convent chaplain (CWN, 1/15)