John Clayton Nienstedt

John Clayton Nienstedt (born March 18, 1947) is an American retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 2008 until his resignation in 2015 due to his role in the clergy child sex abuse crisis.

John Nienstedt was born pm March 18, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan, to John C. and Elizabeth S. (née Kennedy) Nienstedt.

The second oldest of six children, he has two brothers, Richard and Michael, and three sisters, Barbara, Mary, and Corinne.

Nienstedt graduated in 1969 from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with Bachelor of Arts degree.

He then studied Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1972.

On April 29, 1972, Nienstedt was ordained a deacon at the Pontifical North American College.

Nienstedt was ordained a priest by Bishop Joseph Imesch on July 27, 1974, for the Archdiocese of Detroit in the United States.

He then served as an associate pastor at Guardian Angels Parish in Clawson, Michigan, until 1976.

He received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Institute of St. Alphonsus in 1977.

After returning to Detroit in 1977, Nienstedt became priest-secretary to Cardinal John Dearden and a part-time professor of moral theology at St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan.

Nienstedt accompanied Cardinal Dearden to the August 1978 papal conclave in Rome, where he met the future Pope John Paul II.

Nienstedt was also a weekend associate pastor at St. Fabian's Parish in Farmington Hills and at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Farmington, both in Michigan.

He became vicar general for the archdiocese in 1979.

In 1980, Nienstedt returned to Rome, where he was assigned to the English desk of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

While in Rome, he also served as a chaplain at Bambino Gesù Hospital (1980–83) and to the Brothers of Holy Cross (1981–84).

Nienstedt earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Institute of St. Alphonsus in 1985; his doctoral thesis was entitled, "Human Life in a Test-tube; the Moral Dimension of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo transfer."

In early 1986, Nienstedt came back to Michigan.

He was named temporary assistant pastor at St. Regis Parish in Birmingham, Michigan, and adjunct professor of moral theology at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan.

He was named pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Union Lake, Michigan in July that year.

In 1987, Nienstedt was appointed to reorganize Sacred Heart Seminary.

He became its rector in 1988.

He was named as an honorary prelate of his holiness in 1990 and pastor of the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, in 1994.

On June 12, 1996, Nienstedt was appointed auxiliary bishop of Detroit and titular bishop of Alton by Pope John Paul II.

He received his episcopal consecration on July 9, 1996, from Cardinal Adam Maida, with Cardinals James Hickey and Edmund Szoka serving as co-consecrators.

He selected as his episcopal motto: Ut Omnes Unum Sint, 'That All May Be One' from John 17:21.

As an auxiliary bishop, Nienstedt served as episcopal vicar for the Dearborn, Downriver, Monroe, Northwest Wayne, Southland, and Western Wayne vicariates.

Nienstedt previously served as Bishop of New Ulm from 2001 to 2007 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit from 1996 to 2001.

Nienstadt asked for early retirement as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis after a local prosecutor announced plans to indict the archdiocese due to its failure to protect children from sexual abuse by its priests.

Nienstedt was named as the third bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm on June 12, 2001, and was installed on August 6.

He denounced the more progressive views of his predecessor, Bishop Raymond Lucker.

Nienstadt told Catholics in the archdiocese not to read Lucker's book as representing Catholic doctrine and asked the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to assess the validity of Lucker's views.

During his tenure at the USCCB, Nienstedt chaired the Committee on Priestly Formation and was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Care Issues and the Church.

Both of Nienstedt's parents died in the course of six weeks in the winter of 2007.

On April 24, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Nienstedt as coadjutor archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the designated successor to Archbishop Harry Flynn.

When the pope accepted Flynn's retirement on May 2, 2008, Nienstedt automatically succeeded him as the eighth archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Nienstedt received the pallium, a vestment worn by metropolitan bishops, from Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica on June 29, 2008.

Shortly after becoming archbishop, Nienstedt discontinued the gay pride prayer service held at St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis.

He declined numerous invitations to attend the 2008 Republican National Convention, which was held in St. Paul.

In October 2010, Nienstedt announced a strategic plan that called for 21 parishes to be merged into 14 neighboring parishes.

These and two later mergers reduced the number of parishes in the archdiocese from 213 in October 2010 to 188 in July 2013.