Quote of the Day

Archbishop John Nienstedt has been absolutely worthless in meeting the crimes against humanity – the abuse of children – square in the face. He thought everything had been taken care of by his predecessor, Harry Flynn, who was a gregarious guy out in public, to the point where you could feel comfortable calling him "Arch," because maybe you saw him at the next table at The Lexington and you picked up his check.

Now, Flynn's testimony has been made public and it is sad to realize that he is just as worthless as Nienstedt in facing up to the priests who have gone off the rails, the priests who are giving the average parish working stiff a bad name.

In a deposition as part of a lawsuit against the archdiocese and former priest Thomas Adamson, we learned that Flynn doesn't remember a thing about allegations of sexual abuse by priests. He didn't know anything, was hearing names for the first time, was out of town a lot, he supposed. Per his company's form, he figured that any issues were settled by his predecessor, John Roach, who can no longer speak for himself because he is in a grave. And if passing the buck to Roach wasn't thorough enough to get him off the hook, he tossed it forward to Nienstedt. Both of them, Flynn and Nienstedt, are comfortable throwing former Vicar General Kevin McDonough under the bus.

If the archdiocese was a company in which people had stock, the shares would be as worthless as the leadership. . . .

– Joe Souchery
"The Good Priests Deserve Better Archbishops"
Pioneer Press
June 6, 2014

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
It's Time for Archbishop Nienstedt to Resign
Time for a Fresh Start in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis
Quote of the Day – October 20, 2013
Paul Lakeland on How the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal Reveals a Crisis of Leadership

Related Off-site Posts:
Lay Participation in the Selection of Our Next Archbishop – Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (2014).
In the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, "Regime Change is Not Enough" – Bob Beutel (The Progressive Catholic Voice, November 10, 2013).
Healing Can’t Start Until the Knife is Removed from the Wound – The Progressive Catholic Voice (November 5, 2013).