A federal bankruptcy judge has set an August 3 deadline for victims of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul. The deadline, called a BAR DATE, is the final day and men and women abused as children can file claims against the Archdiocese to expose their abuser and get justice and accountability. The…Continue reading Bar date set for St. Paul/Minneapolis abuse victims
The Red Herring Award of the month is a doozey: Earlier this week, this op-ed appeared in the Port Huron MI Times Herald. The author, Mike Stechschulte, says that the media and the public need “perspective” about the clergy abuse crisis. He cites “huge improvements in policies,” low numbers of recent clergy sex abuse cases, and…Continue reading No red herrings, please. Let’s talk about the REAL scandal in St. Paul
St. Paul & Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt has been accused of abuse. According to a statement by the Archdiocese An allegation has been brought by a mandated reporter within the Church to the St. Paul Police of inappropriate touching of a minor male on the buttocks by Archbishop John Nienstedt. The single incident is alleged…Continue reading St. Paul & Minneapolis Archbishop accused of abuse, steps down
In July, I blogged about how institutions should not be in the child sex abuse investigation business. Little did I know that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis would prove me right so quickly. Here’s a recap from what we learned yesterday from Minnesota Public Radio (emphasis mine): Archbishop John Nienstedt was in the middle…Continue reading St. Paul/Minn Archbishop loves to talk about child porn, hates to report it
First CA diocese ducks for cover as a result of AB 218 It was inevitable. And there is SO MUCH to unpack. In a statement last week, Diocese of Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa said that the northern California Catholic Diocese plans to declare bankruptcy due to “more than 130 child sex abuse lawsuits” filed…Continue reading Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese to Declare Bankruptcy
Over the weekend, Catholic hymn composer, performer, and youth conference organizer David Haas was dropped by his publisher after the company learned the musician was under investigation by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for sexual battery and other offenses. Haas also ran a music camp for teens called Music Ministry Alive, which according…Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Catholic composer accused of sexual battery worked with known predator for years
In 2013, Minnesota passed a landmark bill that allowed victims of child sexual abuse to use the civil courts to expose their abuser, no matter when the abuse took place. We are hoping to get one passed in New York right now. Ensuing lawsuits showed that the Archdiocese under Archbishop John Nienstedt (pictured above) and…Continue reading Fifteen Years After Dallas, Part Five: Naughty Nienstedt and the Vatican Shred
There are two very amazing and interesting aspects of today’s news about disgraced Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt. After national media attention and huge (and righteous) push back from Michigan Catholics, Nienstedt has been forced to leave a temporary position in a Michigan parish. If you’re just catching up to the story, Kalamazoo Catholic officials didn’t…Continue reading Catholics who stopped “sitting back and taking it”
What do you do with a disgraced bishop, whose involvement in the cover-up of child sexual abuse led to his being forced out (as well as a bankruptcy for his Archdiocese and criminal charges against the organization)? Put him in a parish, apparently. Yesterday, former St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancellor (and whistleblower) Jennifer…Continue reading How do you solve a problem like Nienstedt?
Did you just see Spotlight and get all fired up? Or maybe you have noticed that your bishop’s actions don’t reflect transparency, humility … or anything remotely resembling Christianity. But you can’t quite determine the root of the problem. And no matter how hard to try to believe that “things are different now,” your bishop’s words just ring false.…Continue reading It’s time for the Bishop Quiz!
Since yesterday’s announcement, I have been hearing a lot of this: But Pope Francis met with survivors. He’s promised to hold bishops accountable. That’s good, right? Um … not really. But first, let’s boil down the figures concerning the actual meeting. Here is some math on Pope Francis’ meeting yesterday with abuse survivors. The meeting…Continue reading The math: Pope Francis’ meeting with survivors
The more things change … the more they stay the same. This morning the Vatican announced the appointments of three new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. And one of them is a problem: vicar general and moderator of the Curia of the archdiocese Joseph Brennan. LA’s vicars general have been a sorry lot. …Continue reading LA’s Vicar General poor choice for bishop
There has been no shortage of news this summer when it comes to the US clergy sex abuse crisis. Although the Vatican is attempting to clean up the mess as much as possible before Pope Francis’ September visit (including accepting the resignations of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archbishop and bishop, as well as…Continue reading The Not-So-Secret Institutional Code Words for Child Sex Abuse
My email was flooded this morning with news that St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piché had resigned. If you haven’t been following the news, the archdiocese has been hammered during the past two years as legal disclosures showed that Archdiocese officials knew about child sexual abuse and…Continue reading Twin Cities Archbishop resigns—or—Who is shrewd and who is brave?
A couple of things struck me about the recently released clergy file of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese priest Thomas Stitts. I saved the best for last, so be sure to read to the end. There is the 1985 “mystery letter.” The letter, which became known around the time of Stitts’ death, allegedly “named names” of scandalous…Continue reading Thomas Stitts and the 40-year Minnesota “memory loss”
1) Call the cops, not your college president. There has been a ton of press about the problem of sexual assaults on campus. Recent government intervention—telling universities that they must have better “policies” and “procedures” to handle the crime—is ALL wrong. Why? Check out this article from (the most unlikely of places) the Harvard Gazette.…Continue reading Two parenting must reads
I know it’s been a little quiet here at The Worthy Adversary. I have been pounding away at the manuscript for The Well-Armored Child, and it’s summer, so there’s not a lot of quiet time around the house. But things have not been quiet in the Archdiocese of Hagatna, Guam. And every time I think that things…Continue reading Wandering Wadeson: A banned priest is exposed
Yesterday, attorneys for victims of child sexual abuse in Minnesota and Missouri released a recent sworn deposition of St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson. In the deposition, which can be read here and viewed in excerpts below, Carlson states 193 times that he “does not remember” various incidents regarding the sexual abuse of children. But…Continue reading Carlson plays the memory card … and loses
Bankruptcy, that is. Diocesan bankruptcy is back in the news—this time, it’s the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. According to victims’ attorneys, yesterday’s four-hour deposition of St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt ended “abruptly and heatedly,” and Nienstedt refused to turn over some court-ordered documents and answer many questions about the cover-up of sex abuse in…Continue reading “It saves them a fortune”
From today’s Hawaii Star-Advertiser: Bills seek more time to file suit Expanding the current two-year window, which expires next month, is unfair to the accused entities, critics argue By Derrick DePledge POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 23, 2014 “Did you know these men?” The question appeared in an ad in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last Sunday…Continue reading Hawaii: Bills may give more victims chance for justice