The Archdiocese of St Paul, Minnesota announced that it has hired a prominent law firm to conduct an independent investigation into charges that Archbishop John Nienstedt engaged in inappropriate sexual activity. In a statement, Nienstedt labelled the charges “absolutely and entirely false”.
The statement followed a report, first published in the US-based Catholic fortnightly Commonweal Magazine, that the charges of inappropriate sexual conduct had been made, citing Jennifer Haselberger. Ms Haselberger resigned last year from her post as chancellor for canonical affairs in the archdiocese because of what she believed was its mishandling of sex abuse claims.
In his statement, Nienstedt pointed out that the charges against him “do not involve minors or lay members of the faithful, and they do not implicate any kind of illegal or criminal behaviour”. “The allegations involve events alleged to have occurred at least a decade ago, before I began serving in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis,” he said.
Ms Haselberger told Commonweal: “I believe that the investigators have received about 10 sworn statements alleging sexual impropriety on the part of the archbishop dating from his time as a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, as Bishop of New Ulm, and while coadjutor/archbishop of St Paul and Minneapolis.”
Nienstedt has been one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in the US hierarchy. In 2006, while serving as the bishop of New Ulm, in Brown County, Minnesota, he published a column urging Catholics not to see the gay-themed film “Brokeback Mountain” because it contained scenes of “wanton anal sex”. Observers questioned the necessity of such explicit language in a diocesan newspaper.
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