St. Paul archbishop said he tried to limit ‘total disclosure’ of suspected abusive priests, but has changed approach
By Emily Gurnon, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Nienstedt said he has since changed his mind about that.
Plaintiff's attorney
As Anderson held his news conference, the
Anderson said in response to questions that Nienstedt lied during the deposition and that he "has disqualified himself from the position" of archbishop.
Anderson did not point to specific statements by Nienstedt. He said the prelate engaged in a "serious pattern of deceit and denial" as Anderson questioned him on child sex abuse by priests and the response by the archdiocese.
In response to Anderson's accusations, archdiocese spokesman
Nienstedt said during the approximately four-hour deposition that he met with his top deputy, the Rev.
"Father McDonough informed me that as part of our procedures, we would disclose to certain people in parishes where -- where priests (accused of abuse) had served," he said.
Anderson asked how it was determined who would get the information.
"My recollection is ... it was the pastor and the trustees of the parish," Nienstedt said.
Didn't the parishioners and the public have a right to know? Anderson asked.
"I believe that we felt that we could monitor the situation without making a total disclosure to the people," Nienstedt said. Asked if he still felt that way, he said, "No. I do not."
Anderson said Tuesday that the deposition captures "the harsh reality that the promises and the pledges made by this archbishop and his predecessors -- that the kids in our communities are safe -- are not true and have been broken."
Nienstedt leads an archdiocese that has pledged "zero tolerance" for priest sexual abuse and yet kept alleged offenders in ministry, Anderson said. Those included priests
Keating was accused in 2006 of sexually abusing a teenage girl.
He kept working until the girl sued in 2013. Anderson represents her. LaVan allegedly abused two minor girls in the 1980s, but was not removed until 2013, Anderson said.
Excerpts from the deposition include the following:
-- Nienstedt agreed he had said publicly that there were no "offending" priests in ministry in the archdiocese. Anderson then asked, "At any time since your installation have you received any information from any source that causes you to want to change any of the statements you have made about the safety of children in this archdiocese?"
Nienstedt replied, "Just in the last month, I did discover that there was a priest who had offended who retired, but continued periodically to celebrate Mass on weekends, and I was not aware of his presence and I was not aware that he was publicly in ministry. And as soon as I realized it, I had his faculties removed."
That priest was LaVan, whose name was released by the archdiocese in February after a consultant's review of clergy files identified him as one with "credible claims against (him) of sexual abuse of a minor."
-- Nienstedt said in response to questions about Keating that the alleged incidents happened before his time as archbishop. "I was aware that something was going on when I became coadjutor because I knew a relative of the person who was involved in the case, but I didn't know ... wasn't privy to ... all the details of the case."
-- McDonough, who served for 17 years as vicar general, or top deputy, to the archbishop and for part of that time as chief point person on priest sexual abuse, did a good job of protecting children, Nienstedt said.
He himself was doing a good job of that, too, he said.
The one decision he disagreed with, Nienstedt said, was when McDonough failed to alert him and parish trustees to the Rev.
-- Nienstedt said that until Wehmeyer was arrested
-- Anderson asked the archbishop if he had ever said to one of his staff, " 'I want to review the file of Father X,' " and get it turned over in its entirety "so you could make a fully informed decision about what to do or not to do? Have you personally ever done that?" Nienstedt responded: "I don't recall that I have."
-- Nienstedt said he was unaware that the Rev.
-- Regarding convicted child molester
-- Anderson asked Nienstedt: "Have you at any time reprimanded, punished, demoted or taken any disciplinary action against any priest or official of the archdiocese for their mishandling of child sexual abuse allegations?" Nienstedt said he didn't believe so. Neither did he think he should have, he said.
-- The archbishop said that his office voluntarily released in December the list of 33 priests "credibly accused" of child sexual abuse up to 2002. Those were names compiled by church officials as part of a study by the
Nienstedt said the archdiocese had chosen to release the names "in an attempt to be transparent with our publics, with the Catholics in the pew, because the media had made such a big deal out of the John Jay list."
-- Questioning also focused on the Rev.
-- The archdiocese hired a private consulting group,
Nienstedt said Kinsale is "still in the process of doing that" review "and I'm waiting for that -- results of that to be able to -- to do exactly what you're suggesting." Anderson told the archbishop he thought that delay could put children at risk.
The deposition, which archdiocese attorneys fought, went forward after the
District Judge
Anderson said Tuesday that his office had turned over the deposition, as well as all priest files it had received in the last several weeks, to the police.
"When new information presents itself, we'll examine that information and determine in which direction it takes us," Padilla said Tuesday.
Nienstedt became co-adjutor bishop for
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