Milwaukee Archdiocese abuse records to be released at 1 pm today

In a major turning point in its nearly 3-year-old bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday is scheduled to make public thousands of pages of documents detailing the sexual abuse of minors by priests going back decades, and what church leaders did — and did not do — in response.

The records will contain parts of 42 priests' personnel files as well as depositions of former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York; retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland; retired Bishop Richard Sklba; and now-defrocked priest Daniel Budzynski.

Most of the information, which is being released as part of an agreement in the archdiocese's bankruptcy proceedings, has never been seen publicly. "Needless to say, there are some terrible things described in many of the documents," Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in his weekly letter to local Catholics in advance of the release. To those deciding to read the files, Listecki advised, "prepare to be shocked.
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The individual priest files will focus on one group of offenders accused in the bankruptcy claims: 42 of the 45 priests named on the archdiocese's website as having substantiated allegations of sexually abusing at least one minor.
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The archdiocese and attorneys for victims are expected to post the documents on their respective websites — www.archmil.org and www.andersonadvocates.com— at 1 p.m. Monday.

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