More Chains Of Paternity: John Nienstedt

John Nienstedt's successor as Archbishop of St Paul-Minneapolis, Bernard Hebda, publicly "clarified" a couple of days ago that Nienstedt, "like any priest facing similar allegations, would not be free to exercise public ministry in this Archdiocese until all open allegations are resolved." The allegations are substantial, and the lack of action from the Vatican on down is a scandal in itself. According to Church Militant,

Nienstedt was revealed in a formal investigation conducted by officials in the chancery of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to have been a promiscuous homosexual when he was a student and Vatican official in Rome. This 138-page affidavit from the Ramsey County Court in Minnesota contains sad details about Nienstedt's life as a priest and bishop. Other details are available on Minnesota-based media websites.

Nienstedt and the current Archbishop of Detroit, Alan Vigneron, were classmates at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Both appear to have been protégés of Cardinal John Dearden, who was Archbishop of Detroit from 1958 to 1980. Vigneron and Nienstedt rose together in the archdiocese.

It is now known that during the years Vigneron served as vice rector of Sacred Heart Seminary (SHS) under Nienstedt, who was rector (from 1988–1991) there were situations where Nienstedt was advancing his deviant designs on seminarians. The two classmates were elevated to the rank of auxiliary bishop in the same ceremony in 1996 in Detroit.

This site gives more details on Nienstedt's earlier career:

John Nienstedt was initially a center-left Detroit priest (e.g., open to women's ordination in 1974) whom the liberal John Dearden mentored and employed. With Dearden's impending retirement in 1980, Nienstedt was sent to Rome to complete a doctorate in moral theology and to work in the Holy See's Secretariat of State, whereby he learned first-hand what it took to become a bishop under John Paul II's reign. With mentoring by Vatican insiders such as Carlo Viganò and Justin Rigali, as well as friendships with those possessing right-wing ideologies and dispositions like Thomas Olmsted, Nienstedt adopted hardcore, un-pastoral conservatism, at least in rhetoric and appearance, to ladder-climb. Upon returning to Detroit in 1985, Nienstedt served Polish-American Edmund Szoka, the ruthless anti-Dearden, who was one of John Paul II's favorite bishops. When Szoka gained further power through positions in the Vatican, he rewarded Nienstedt (and others) who dutifully served him with the office of bishop, even after Adam Maida removed Nienstedt as Rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 1994 for misconduct. (NB: *Maida received letters detailing Nienstedt's misconduct over the years, including a letter from the majority of college seminarians at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 1994. These letters should be held in the archives of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Like those alleging McCarrick's behavior was an open secret and church officials did not act thoroughly, either did Maida with Nienstedt. **James Heathcott, a former Sacred Heart seminarian, testified to sending a letter to Edmund Szoka regarding Nienstedt's improprieties (pre-1990). Szoka never replied! This and other letters may well be in the archives.)

This account suggests that Nienstedt has much in common with other "conservative" bishops like Bernard Law and William Levada. In addition, the Nienstedt case adds complexity to the Viganò story, according to the Crux link above, since although Nienstedt eventually resigned under fire in 2015 following numerous allegations of misconduct,

In 2014, Nienstedt ordered his senior auxiliary bishop to investigate claims against him, which he did with the support of two outside law firms. The findings from that investigation were turned over to then papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, and according to Father Dan Griffith, who served as the archdiocese’s Safe Environment coordinator at the time, Viganò brought a halt to the investigation, even ordering evidence in the case to be destroyed.

Francis, however, forced Nienstedt's resignation in 2015, which this site argues prompted Viganò's 2018 letters.

After a half-year hiatus, Nienstedt was taken in by a friend who served as pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church in Battle Creek, MI. John Fleckenstein (NB, former seminarian at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit; ordained 2002), who was to undergo medical treatment, employed Nienstedt temporarily at the parish beginning on January 6, 2016. Michigan residents protested for two-weeks until Nienstedt's resignation was announced on January 21, 2016.

Later in 2016, Timothy Busch, a friend of Viganò and Nienstedt, took Nienstedt in at the Napa Institute, which caters to the agenda of likeminded wealthy, laissez-faire capitalist, ultraconservative US Catholics. Busch is a native of Clinton in rural Lenawee County, MI. He attended Western Michigan and later Wayne State for his law degree. His brothers and he still own Busch's Fresh Food Markets in Southeastern Michigan, though Busch relocated to Southern California in 1982. Busch also owns the Busch Firm, which specializes in estate planning for the wealthy, and the Pacific Hospitality Group. Together, Charles Koch and Timothy Busch donated $25 million to Catholic University of America's Business School, WHICH CUA ACCEPTED (NB, now called The Busch School of Business; Busch is interested in propagating the compatibility of Catholicism with laissez-faire capitalism). Besides the Napa Institute and the Catholic University of America, Busch is involved with "the Papal Foundation, Legatus, Magis Institute and the University of Notre Dame."

Nienstedt has been described as a "conservative", but I think we're beginning to see that political, theological, and liturgical orientation is largely a matter of which way the Vatican winds blow.

Nienstedt's case seems to be very close to the center of what ails the Church these days, and there's probably much more to learn.