Archbishop with Metro Detroit Ties Resigns Amid Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal

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Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of an archbishop with Detroit ties and a deputy bishop after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was charged with failing to protect children from a pedophile priest, the Vatican said Monday.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, 68, who served as pastor or associate pastor in Royal Oak, Clawson, Farmington, Farmington Hills and Union Lake, is only a handful of American bishops in the Catholic Church to resign as a result of the clergy sex abuse scandal, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

In addition to the parish positions, Nienstedt also served for six years as rector and president of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reports. He arrived in the Twin Cities in 2007.

Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, 57, resigned under the church law that allows bishops to resign before they retire, in cases of illness or some other “grave” reason rendering them unfit for office.

A deputy bishop will take over the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until a permanent replacement can be named. The diocese was criminally charged earlier this month by prosecutors for its “role in failing to protect children and contribution to the unspeakable harm” done to three sexual abuse victims of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer.

Wehmeyer pleaded guilty to molesting two boys in Minnesota and is serving a five-year prison. He faces a similar charge in Wisconsin.

Nienstedt arrived in the Twin Cities in 2007, presiding over one of the most turbulent and divisive periods in the 165-year history of the diocese. In a statement on the archdiocese website, he said he resigned to give the archdiocese “a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”

After Minnesota Public Radio revealed in 2013 that Nienstedt had authorized secret payments to priests who had sexually abused children, failed to report alleged sex crimes to police and failed to warn parishioners about Wehmeyer’s actions, many called for his resignation. he refused.

Nienstedt had been implicated in the sex abuse scandal after police in Minnesota opened a criminal investigation into allegations that he inappropriately touched a boy’s buttocks in 2009. He was never criminally charged and has denied the allegations.

He voluntarily “stepped aside from all public ministry” during the investigation, becoming the first sitting U.S. bishop to voluntarily give up some of his duties because of a police investigation of alleged sexual misconduct.

Nienstedt had returned to public ministry when the investigation ended without charges, but the calls for his resignation increased. He remained largely out of the public eye until 2014.

Nienstedt and Piche’s resignations came just days after Pope Francis approved the creation of a new Vatican tribunal to judge bishops who are accused of covering up or failing to investigate allegations of child sxual abuse by priests.

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