Milwaukee abuse mediation

When the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and attorneys for 15 victims sexually abused by priests as children sit down with a mediator in Chicago beginning Monday, chances are they'll be mindful of what's come before:

• $37 million awarded to 156 victims in the Diocese of Davenport in 2007.

• $13 million for victims in Chicago the following year.

• $17 million paid by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2006 to 10 California victims.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki announced Tuesday that he had initiated settlement talks with attorneys for the victims, whose cases are pending in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. All 15 accuse the archdiocese of defrauding them by moving offender priests from parish to parish without telling families about their sex abuse histories.

The pending cases include victims of the now defrocked priest Franklyn Becker, whose history of inappropriate sexual activity dated to his days in the seminary, and the late Father Lawrence Murphy, who is believed to have molested as many as 200 deaf boys. The church is not disputing that the victims were abused.

If successful, it would be the Milwaukee archdiocese's second court-related settlement in four years. In 2006, it paid $17 million - half of that covered by insurance - to settle claims by 10 victims in California, where two notorious Milwaukee priests - Becker and Siegfried Widera - had transferred.

The archdiocese declined to discuss how much it has to work with in terms of a financial settlement.

"That's what the mediation is for," said Listecki Chief of Staff Jerry Topczewski.

However, he suggested that resources may be limited primarily to the archdiocese's unrestricted operating assets - $3.8 million in the 2008-'09 fiscal year, the latest figures available - and a portfolio of property, which the diocese has valued but would not make public. It includes the Cousins Center, which already is on the market and has been valued as high as $8 million.

Plaintiffs attorney Jeff Anderson said dioceses around the country have routinely excluded or undervalued assets[churches, schools, and hospitals] brought to mediation, and that he would not even discuss financials in the talks until the archdiocese showed it was serious about settling.

JSOnline