November 14, 2013: Archdiocese Hires Insider to Conduct Review of Priest Files
Archbishop Nienstedt to decide what information is accessible for review
Statement of Attorney Mike Finnegan
(St. Paul, MN) – Today the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Archbishop Nienstedt announced the hiring of Kinsale Management Consulting to conduct a review of clergy files. The firm’s founder, Kathleen McChesney, Ph.D., is the former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Child and Youth Protection.
We are concerned that Archbishop Nienstedt chose another church insider to review the files. McChesney will only be allowed to review the information provided by the Archbishop and his attorneys and we suspect she will be required to keep any information she reviews, secret and confidential. This is another example of the Archdiocese and Archbishop’s continuing lack of transparency and accountability in the handling of clergy sexual abuse cases.
If Archbishop Nienstedt truly wants to protect children, and restore trust with the Catholic faithful and the community, then he should turn over all of the files to law enforcement and immediately alert the public about all known offenders.