[Archbishop] Nienstedt Denies Misconduct, Said He Was Targeted for Opposing Gay Marriage

Twin Cities.com ^ | 7/21/16 | Marino Eccher

[marshmallow]

John Nienstedt, the former archbishop of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, said accusations of sexual misconduct against him were part of a false smear campaign in response to his opposition to gay marriage.

Nienstedt’s denial came in a statement Wednesday night, first issued to KSTP and Minnesota Public Radio. That followed the release of internal church documents alleging the Vatican had sought to derail an independent investigation that turned up credible evidence against him.

Nienstedt resigned last year as archbishop and returned to his home state of Michigan. He was briefly involved with a diocese there but left when parishioners objected to his presence.

He said the accusations — which range from him frequenting gay clubs to making unwanted advances toward priests and seminary students — were decades old and baseless. He said he believes they’re “due to my unwavering stance on issues consistent with Catholic Church teaching, such as opposition to so-called same sex marriage.

“Such personal attacks were first made when I defended the Church’s opposition to admitting openly homosexual men to the priesthood,” he said. “These attacks grew even more vicious when I began to speak out against so-called same sex marriage.”

He said he also thinks the accusers “are bringing false allegations forward in retribution for difficult decisions I have made as their superior,” adding that privacy laws limit what we can say.

Nienstedt said he isn’t gay, has been celibate his whole life, and “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.”

Some of the accusers said he interfered with their careers after they rebuked his advances. In internal memos released Wednesday, a priest with ties to the investigation said the law...........

[marshmallow]

A quite extraordinary case and that's saying plenty considering the sordid archive of clerical misbehavior cases.

Somebody is telling the most horrendous lies here.

[fella]

"The Church in corruption is one of Satan's infernal powers! . . . What will come to pass now? You will see, is evil tidings, and I should not wish to tell it to you."

Savonarola 18 March 1498

[opus1]

The somebody is not Nienstedt, he is a good guy, a straight arrow, which likely is why the pope has sidelined him, too “conservative.”

[HLPhat]

>>Somebody is telling the most horrendous lies here.

 

We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face. But we cannot make these choices with impunity. Causes have effects, and if we lie to ourselves and to others, then we cannot expect to find truth and reality whenever we happen to want them.

If we have chosen the way of falsity we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we finally come to need it!

--Thomas Merton