St. Paul’s Top Cop Delivers PR Hammer Blow to Archdiocese, Alleging That Church Officials Refuse To Talk

It’s safe to say that Minneapolis St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt (below) won’t look back on 2013 with a great deal of satisfaction. Even as an investigation into child sexual abuse appeared to taint his archdiocese, he thought it necessary to point the finger at gays and atheists (among others):

Sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography, the redefinition of marriage, and the denial of objective truth are just some of the forces threatening the stability of our civilization. The source of these machinations is none other than the Father of Lies.

… and got roundly taken to task for it.

Then, an underage parishioner accused the archbishop of inappropriate sexual touching, and on Tuesday, while denying the charge, Nienstedt announced he was removing himself from “public ministry” while that investigation plays itself out. While that seems like a responsible step, it doesn’t mean a lot in practice: he’s still running the archdiocese, having decided against a leave of absence.

Then the local cops administered a PR hammer blow that must have left the padres reeling.

St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith made public a Dec. 4 letter to Nienstedt in which the top cop complained that efforts to gain more information from church officials about earlier child abuse allegations had been met with anywhere from footdragging to stony silence. If the diocese didn’t cooperate, he added, police would have a hard time obtaining search warrants to move the investigation forward.

Smith minced no words:

“We have through written and verbal requests made clear our desire to speak to individuals connected to the archdiocese and we have been told no. … If someone tells us no, they don’t want to talk to us, yet the archdiocese goes public and says ‘We’re cooperating with law enforcement,’ I guess you can come to a reasonable conclusion of why we are here today.”

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kielc

But priests raping children, THAT’s not a threat to society at all — that’s tradition!
LesterBallard

Again, what does Time Magazine’s Man of the Year have to say about this?
Stev84

Regardless of all the other shit they did, the current allegations seems a bit weak. Touching someone in the butt area during a public photo shoot. Questionable, but hardly damning. Maybe more happened, but by itself it’s not a huge scandal.
A3Kr0n

I agree. Let’s see how this plays out.
WalterWhite007

Yeah for Archbishop John Nienstedt!!!!!
Every time a pervert priest gets exposed 😉 for what he is our side gets new ‘members’ and the cathlick cult shrinks.
‘Churchicide’ by priestly perversions!!
I hope the victims get help…paid for out of cathlick cult $$$$$’s!!
Brodestar

The archbishop doesn’t have to look any further than his own diocese to see just what forces are “threatening the stability of our civilization”. Equal rights and freedom to do whatever you want as long as you don’t harm others or infringe on others equal rights is not hurting anyone much less our civilization.
Svelaz

The church is not facing it’s own very obvious problems and yet has the nerve to lash out at others for it’s own problems. What a travesty. Blaming gays and atheists and pornography on the church’s own failings is in itself one giant lie. Hypocrisy is what made Jesus angry with rage. Why do they insist on making Jesus an ass while doing this?
Gehennah

Probably “Stop picking on us”
Richard Thomas

“If the diocese didn’t cooperate, he added, police would have a hard time obtaining search warrants to move the investigation forward.”

Really hope that’s a typo. Why should they have a hard time?
El Bastardo

The Catholic league is asking people to out the accuser??? Srsly.
smrnda

I’d say freedom to do what you want as long as you don’t harm others and equal rights *ARE* civilization.
Lee Miller

Plus they’re an “out of state organization”–whenever the Freedom from Religion Foundation gets involved in a case they’re routinely dismissed as “out of staters” . . . but I guess it’s OK if the Catholic group is in the same category.
Kevin R. Cross

Because (despite what you see on TV) most judges will require a reasonable standard of suspicion before signing a search warrant. And an accusation without supporting evidence often won’t reach that level, especially when a large organization (like the Church) is involved.
Richard Wade

Okay, take your time. Look at each one, and tell the detective if you see the guy who did it to you.
Brodestar

My thoughts exactly. That’s the civilization that we should be living in.
Brodestar

The FFRF, the ACLU and every other organization that dares to speak up against religion are automatically “out of staters”. Christian organizations on the other hand somehow represent all christianity so they are never “out of staters” even if the organization is in fact from a different state. It’s a double standard that has been accepted for far too long.
Spuddie

Of course if you are stonewalling an investigation, it is dishonest to claim to be cooperating with it in the media.
Mick

My prediction:
The cops will never get to speak to the witnesses the church is hiding. If things get really tough the church will send them to the Vatican where they will be safe from extradition. It’s a trick they’ve used before.
Rogue Medic

They interviewed Catholics who claim that there is no basis for the investigation.

Is this based on their knowledge of the evidence?

How can they possibly know anything?

They believe.

But they also believe in magic, so what is their belief worth?

.
Dan Robinson

I love it when bishops speak of “objective truth”.
Richard Thomas

I was under the impression that they DID have a reasonable standard of suspicion. Trust me, I’ll never be one to suggest the police deserve more power than they need.
Kevin R. Cross

They probably do have a reasonable suspicion that something happened. But a search warramt requires such things as “the object or information for which the warranted officers are searching” – it can’t be used as a fishing expedition. (Though to be fair, it often is abused in that way.) If the church and officials are stonewalling them, the investigators may not even know what they need to search for yet.
SeekerLancer

Probably, “insert hollow platitude here.”
JeromeMac

Heck the Catholic church is another nation.