What will happen with "safe environments" under Archbishop Nienstedt

Yesterday, Bishop Nienstedt from the Diocese of New Ulm was named the new coadjutor Archbishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. According to this article in the Star Tribune, Bishop Nienstedt will shadow Archbishop Flynn for about one year until Archbishop Flynn retires.

It will be intesting to see if Archbishop Flynn essentially steps away from the day to day operational activities of the archdiocese and lets coadjutor Archbishop Nienstedt take the realm and make decisions.

Given the controversy over the "safe environments" initiative in the Twin Cities, it will be interesting to see if he allows the status quo to prevail. If he is truly shadowing Archbishop Flynn for one year, we can expect to see no changes to the "safe environments" programs for the 2007-2008 school year.

From what can be seen online, the Diocese of New Ulm acted almost immediately after the U.S. Bishops enacted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth. The diocese also appears to have provided significant transparency unlike our archdiocese. Here's a link to their "safe environments" programs.

If you want to learn more about how coadjutor Archbishoph Nienstedt thinks, he appears to have published a significant amount of material on the Diocese of New Ulm's web site.