'a liberal Catholic voice who resigned amid scandal'

So says the key phrase in the lede to the entry for Archbishop Rembert Weakland in the entry for him in the article Remembering faith leaders who died in 2022: preachers, writers and interpreters of faith, by Adelle M. Banks, at Religion News Service.

Joliet Diocese to pay $1.4M to 3 men in priest sex abuse lawsuit

A Chicago-area Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by three men who alleged they were sexually molested by their priest when they were boys.

The three unidentified men alleged they were repeatedly harmed by Father Leonard Mateo of the Joliet Diocese between 1980 and 1982, before age 11.

After initial complaints were raised by parents, Mateo suddenly was transferred to a parish in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, eventually landing in the Philippines where, the lawsuit says, church records show he died in 2004.

The three first raised their allegations against the priest in 2014.

“This is a priest who was continuously moved from one parish to the next upon allegations of sexual misconduct, normalizing his sexual abuse of children and dispelling any notion it was wrong,” plaintiff’s attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said.

continue at USAToday

GBPG: Green Bay diocese reaches out to church abuse victims

DE PERE – At the bottom of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay marquee on Riverside Drive in Allouez are the words “Compassionately Serves Those in Need.”

Gene Van Asten is thankful the diocese has been practicing what it preaches.

After decades of having nowhere to turn, Van Asten has been getting the help he needs from the diocese the last few years.

Molested as a teenager by a Catholic priest in central Wisconsin, the 66-year-old Van Asten credits the comforting support of Bishop David Ricken and others from the Green Bay diocese for easing the enduring pain.

Ricken for the third straight year led a Prayer Service for Healing at two diocesan churches this week. More than 125 people attended those services, including about 50 at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in De Pere on Wednesday night.

The solemn services of more than an hour focus on individuals in need of healing from the Roman Catholic Church, including those who have been sexually abused by clergy.

Ricken offered an apology at the service Wednesday.

"It's nothing you did to deserve this," Ricken told those in the pews. "It's not your fault."

continue at GBPG

Once the lawyers are out of the way, there has to be more of this continual outreach.

Local Journalist Reflects on Milwaukee's Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal

Audrey Nowakowski of 'Lake Effect' interviewed Marie Rohde at Milwaukee Public Radio. The brief article includes links to shorter and longer versions of the audio.

"Reporter Marie Rohde’s work stretches back to 1980s, when she covered religion for the Milwaukee Journal. More than a quarter-century later, Rohde still writes about the issue as a freelancer, often for the independent National Catholic Reporter."

It took a little while for this to become a local story.

"the case of Fr. William Effinger would be the first to make big headlines in Milwaukee. Effinger served at a number of parishes in Milwaukee and had been a serial abuser, with more than 150 child victims. It was discovered that the Milwaukee archdiocese knew about the abuse, but did doing nothing to warn potential victims or their families. Instead, like many abusive priests, Effinger was transferred around the city."

Covering such a beat can take a toll, it appears.

"Having practiced Catholicism at the start of her career as a religion reporter, Rodhe says she is no longer a Catholic."

The faith-shaking issue remains bishops who assert the problem was a priest could turn out to be a child molester, rather than acknowledge that they, or their predecessors, should have soon realized such priests should not be transferred around.

"'The abuse was horrible,' says Rodhe. 'But what was even more horrible, and that has never been addressed, was (the church's) role in it. And until that can happen it's not going to end.'"

Former Dubuque priest cleared in sexual abuse investigation returns to church

A former Dubuque priest cleared of wrongdoing in a sexual abuse investigation recently returned to his church in East Naples, Fla., following a leave of absence.

The Rev. Leo Riley, 59, returned to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on Oct. 1, according to a spokesman for the Diocese of Venice, Fla.

Riley served as a Church of the Resurrection associate pastor in 1985 and 1986. The Archdiocese of Dubuque launched an investigation after Jeff Buchheit, formerly of Dubuque, said in March that he was abused by Riley when Buchheit was in fourth grade and serving as an altar boy in October 1985.

In response, Riley was placed on leave from his position as a pastor in the Diocese of Venice.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque hired a licensed private investigator and former FBI agent to interview Riley, Buccheit and people who knew them. The investigator also checked criminal complaints made against Riley, who strenuously denied the allegations from the start. He also voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination earlier this year, which he passed, according to diocesan officials.

No one else came forward to confirm the allegation or to raise new allegations, according to a letter dated July 22 sent by the Diocese of Venice to parishioners.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque’s findings were presented to a Venice diocesan review board composed primarily of laity, which unanimously concluded “that the best information available does not support a reasonable belief that the allegation is true,” according to the letter.

TH

I don't know anything about this case.  That said, Venice is not a good place right now, I've heard.  Crazy parishioners after the bishop and orthodox priests or something like that.
Priests' letter to nuncio denounces Venice, Fla., bishop 

Catholic Diocese meets in Venice over allegations against Bishop

Green Bay diocese not liable in Nevada sex case

A Nevada man who claimed he was molested by a former Freedom priest is not entitled to compensation from the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The case involved a lawsuit filed by "John Doe 119," who claimed the former Rev. John P. Feeney molested him in 1984 in Las Vegas. The lawsuit states the man was 13 when he was assaulted by Feeney, but it was not until around 2008 that Doe recognized that he had psychological trauma as a result of Feeney's acts. Doe sued the diocese for negligence in hiring and retaining Feeney.

In the lawsuit, Doe claimed Feeney, a pastor in Las Vegas at the time of the assault, was still an agent of the diocese, that the diocese was aware Feeney had molested children in Wisconsin and that it negligently failed to warn others that he was a danger. 

continue at GB Press Gazette 

The Crescat: Denied Communion on the Tongue at My Grandmother’s Funeral

This is just so awful.  No, it's all the way in Virginia, but how can stuff like this still happen in 2015?

… I just had the absolute worst experience ever during mass, at my Abuela’s funeral no less. I wasn’t going to post about here but I feel I have a duty to warn you all. If you ever happen to find yourself visiting the Tidewater area of Virginia and need to go to mass… just drive right by St. Therese in Chesapeake. Simply make the sign of the cross and keep on driving. Don’t look back. Trust me.

But of course, feel free to completely ignore my advice if you like your tabernacle located near the church office, absolutely love ginormous burlap banners, and simply loathe kneelers. Perhaps you find it charming and personable that the Sign of Peace last twenty minutes long because the priest likes to walk around and shake everyone’s hand. How friendly, right?

Maybe those stodgy, formal processions aren’t your thing either and you like a little a warm up how-we-doing-this-morning routine before you get down to mass-y business.

But if sacrilege is your cup tea, boy oh boy, is this parish just for you – especially if you have complete and utter disrespect for the Eucharist and disdain for those disgusting “traddies” that like to receive on the tongue. I mean gross, right? Yeah, to hell with those people. Lets just be jerks to them at their grandmother’s funeral.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thecrescat/2015/03/denied-communion-on-the-tongue-at-my-grandmothers-funeral.html#ixzz3U5nvyDrV

Lower Lovell

Our Archbishop of Milwaukee Facebook page reposts verbatim Marquette President James Lovell's statement on the University's announced effort to fire Professor John McAdams. Perhaps the ArchMil empathisizes with the University's approach to public relations.

Early on President Lovell says,

"Until all procedures required under university rules and policies are complete, we will not publicly disclose further details."

But this sounds like apophasis given that he later says,

"We must always remember that academic freedom must be grounded in integrity, be accurate at all times and show respect for others’ opinions. When these standards are not met, the power of tenure can abuse and silence our students – the very minds we are seeking to cultivate, grow and ultimately transform."

I thought this was about public criticism of a graduate student instructor's teaching, so why is it being spun as abusing a student?

And why is our Archdiocese seconding that characterization? In a different context, but not that long ago, it was pushing a narrow definition of abuse as a reason not to remove someone from his position.

As it stands, between them, a priest being unable to keep his hands to himself with grade school kids is not abuse, and not a firing offense, but a professor criticizing a graduate student instructor by name is.

Gov. Walker asks state superintendent to remove porn-watching teacher

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday urged state schools Superintendent Tony Evers to revoke Andrew Harris’ teachers’ license.

Harris is the Middleton-Cross Plains middle school teacher found to have viewed multiple pornographic images, videos and other inappropriate sexual content at the school.

“After hearing from concerned parents, I am asking you to act efficiently in your investigation into the actions of Mr. Harris and to initiate revocation proceedings,” Walker wrote in a letter to Evers.

The Middleton-Cross Plains School District fired Harris in 2010 after another teacher filed a complaint saying Harris showed her pornographic images at the school. The district launched an investigation that found Harris received hundreds of pornographic images, videos and inappropriate jokes on his school email account and viewed them at work.

Harris’ union filed a grievance asking that he be reinstated. The arbitrator, Karen Mawhinney, who donated $1,500 to two of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s failed campaigns for governor in 2010 and the recall in 2012, agreed with the union. She ordered the district to reinstate Harris to a similar position and pay him nearly $200,000 in back pay. The district spent another $627,000 in legal fees trying unsuccessfully to have the decision overturned in the courts.

continue at WatchDog

A major embarrassment for the teachers union, and a great way to encourage homeschooling.  

Files Show Chicago Archdiocese Hid Decades Of Child Sex Abuse

After a 13-year-old boy reported in 1979 that a priest raped him and later threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, the Archdiocese of Chicago assured the boy’s parents that although the cleric avoided prosecution, he would receive treatment and have no further contact with minors.

But the Rev. William Cloutier, who already had been accused of molesting other children, was returned to ministry a year later and accused of more abuse before he resigned in 1993, two years after the boy’s parents filed a lawsuit. Officials took no action against Cloutier over his earliest transgressions because he “sounded repentant,” according to internal archdiocese documents released Tuesday that show how the archdiocese tried to contain a mounting scandal over child sexual abuse.

RELATED: Read The Documents | Documents By Priest

For decades, those at the highest levels of the nation’s third-largest archdiocese moved accused priests from parish to parish while hiding the clerics’ histories from the public. The documents, released through settlements between attorneys for the archdiocese and victims, describe how the late Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin often approved the reassignments. The archdiocese removed some priests from ministry, but often years or decades after the clergy were known to have molested children.

While disturbing stories of clergy sexual abuse have wrenched the Roman Catholic Church across the globe, the newly released documents offer the broadest look yet into how one of its largest and most prominent American dioceses responded to the scandal.

continue at CBS Chicago

Also from JS: 

Records released Tuesday that document years of sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago — and the actions and inactions of church officials over the years — include at least four sex abusers with ties to Wisconsin.

The St. Paul, Minn., law firm of Jeffrey Anderson made public 6,000 pages of documents involving 30 priests after eight years of negotiations with church officials over how they were to be released.

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/chicago-archdiocese-sex-abuse-documents-name-4-with-wisconsin-ties-b99188817z1-241340031.html#ixzz2rFDXhhbg
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

I've said before, release of these documents is absolutely the right thing to do.  The good ol' boy network has got to go.  I don't have time to follow it closely, but some of us know through the case of Fr. Alfred Kunz that the ties of abuse to +Bernardin have long been in question. 

Chicago archdiocese releasing 6,000 pages of documents of sex abuse files

CHICAGO — The release of 6,000 pages of documents by the Archdiocese of Chicago raised hopes Wednesday among sex abuse victims and their lawyers that new light will be shed on what the Catholic Church knew and did — or didn't do — about decades of allegations against priests.

The nation's third-largest archdiocese handed over to victims' attorneys a trove of complaints, personnel documents and other files for about 30 priests with substantiated abuse allegations, as part of settlements with the victims.

The lawyers, who have fought for years to hold the church accountable for concealing crimes and sometimes reassigning priests to positions where they continued to molest children, said they expect to make the documents public next week.

While church officials called the agreement an effort to "bring healing to the victims and their families," the victims said the disclosures and transparency were the only way to learn from what happened, make sure it is never repeated and help both them and the church recover and move forward.

"Hopefully it will help others out there struggling to come forward and get help," said Joe Iacono, 62, a Springfield, Ill., resident who was abused in the early 1960s while he was a student at a Catholic school outside Chicago.

Iacono said he was hoping the documents include records relating to the priest who abused him.

A ranking official for the archdiocese, Bishop Francis Kane, opened a Wednesday news conference explaining the document release by apologizing for the abuse.

"I have seen firsthand the pain and suffering of the victims and their families," Kane said. "What we are doing now, I hope that it will bring healing and hope to the people that have been affected by these terrible sins and crimes."

continue at BH

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/01/15/4936742/church-releasing-sex-abuse-files.html#storylink=cpy

Archdiocese of Milwaukee's settlement with Lloyd’s ‘important step’ in reorganization

ST. FRANCIS – The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has “reached in principle” a settlement with Lloyd’s, London and London Market Companies, both of which operate under London Market Insurers (LMI), that will be part of the plan of reorganization that the archdiocese will file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Wisconsin.

The agreement was noted in a motion to extend the stay on motions the archdiocese and LMI had filed earlier in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The most recent motion was filed jointly Nov. 11 by attorneys for LMI and the archdiocese in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

“Details of the settlement agreement will be documented in writing, executed by the parties; we’ll have an agreement in writing and incorporated into the plan of reorganization,” Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, said Tuesday, Nov. 12. “The dollar amount will be disclosed in the plan of reorganization along with the non-monetary (elements) – best described as the actual agreement.”

LMI’s attorney Catalina J. Sugayan wrote in a statement of support for the motion that LMI “would agree to make a buyback payment and a release payment (from the archdiocese) … in exchange for a buyback and release of all possible liabilities relating to any claims that have been made or could be made against the LMI and other London Insurers relating to or connected with the LMI policies and other London policies…”
...
Attorney costs have totaled more than $4 million since the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 4, 2011.

continue at MilCatHerald

I'm impressed they added that stat at the end

Abp. Nienstedt: My pledge to restore trust

It was Dec. 13, 2007. I remember it well. I had just returned from a meeting of the college of consultors of the New Ulm Diocese, having presided over the selection of a new apostolic administrator to take my place as bishop. The phone rang and my brother said, “Dad is dead.”

I pulled the car over to absorb those words. Six weeks later I stood at my mother’s hospital bed and watched her die. It was an extremely painful time in my life, losing both parents within such a short period. My parents had been very close to me. They had a huge influence on who I am. I could not have asked for better parents.

I recall those moments now, because the pain and sorrow I felt then reflects that which I have heard from so many of you in your own suffering and disillusionment these past few weeks. I want you to know that I have been praying for all of you. I am experiencing that pain, too. The media have been filled with all kinds of accusations and unanswered questions. There is cause here for sadness, confusion and anger.

After almost a month, I have come to understand more clearly what has happened to bring us to this point. I am grateful to my leadership team, which has helped me process this understanding. Practically all of my senior leadership team is new, with an average tenure of less than a year. We have been searching for answers. And while there is more to do, we have arrived at a better picture of the truth.

The first thing that must be acknowledged is that over the last decade some serious mistakes have been made. We have indeed created many policies, procedures and practices designed to prevent and address clergy sexual misconduct. The new independent Task Force will review all of this and hopefully tell us what we can do better. I am committed to implementing those recommendations.

continue at The Catholic Spirit

Arch. Minn St. Paul paid $11 million for misconduct by priests

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis spent nearly $11 million from 2003 through 2012 to cover costs directly associated with sexual abuse and other misconduct committed by priests who were removed from active ministry, according to church documents obtained by the Star Tribune.

The archdiocese wrote checks directly to victims of abuse, in cases involving children and vulnerable adults, in every year of the period covered by the reports, totaling more than $476,000 over the decade. Also, $1.5 million was paid on behalf of victims to cover counseling, therapy and other medical services.

Additional money was distributed to child victims via a trust account funded by the archdiocese and managed by the St. Paul law firm Meier, Kennedy & Quinn.

A source close to the archdiocese said victims’ payments detailed in the documents applied only to cases handled inside the archdiocese, not to those adjudicated in the courts.

Some children, for instance, have received tuition money to attend Catholic schools, including St. Agnes in St. Paul and DeLaSalle in Minneapolis.

Other substantial payments went for therapy and treatment. In 2007, for example, when total payments ran to $1.62 million, one of the biggest single categories was $303,882 in support of child victims. Those funds paid for the cost of psychiatric care and other treatment through such providers as Life Healing Center in Santa Fe, N.M., North Metro Psychiatry, Hazelden Foundation and University of Minnesota Physicians.
...
Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said late Wednesday that checks written directly to victims were related to out-of-court “priest suit settlements’’ in which “many’’ of the victims were represented by attorneys. He also confirmed that other victims were paid out of settlement funds distributed by Meier, Kennedy & Quinn under a legal trust account arrangement.

continue at STrib

Sounds a lot like Milwaukee.  I'm sure many of the other archdioceses have similar programs.  Pretty standard stuff.  SNAP doesn't like money going to victims when they haven't got a piece of the pie.  STrib wants to go interrogate in the schoolyard to find out who they can make famous.

The money doesn't matter, and for some reason the STrib doesn't even ask(unless I missed it).  "Are any of these priests found guilty still in active ministry?   If these cases were regarding criminal activity, were authorities alerted?" 

Twin Cities woman sues Fr. Michael Keating from St. Thomas Univ., alleges improper contact and gifts

A Catholic priest and University of St. Thomas professor has been accused of sexual contact with a 13-year-old Twin Cities girl more than a decade ago, and of then giving her his car when she confronted him about the incidents eight years later.

The Rev. Michael J. Keating, 57, has taken a leave of absence from St. Thomas and did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations, which are contained in a lawsuit filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court. A university spokesman said Keating “no longer is on campus.”

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who filed the suit, said that his client and her family took her accusations to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis seven years ago but that they were rebuffed by an internal review panel. Anderson said the case, the latest of several explosive allegations to surface in the archdiocese, is another example of church officials in St. Paul protecting the church’s reputation at the expense of victims and the faithful.

The archdiocese did not comment. “We’re not going to be responding to her claims,” spokesman Jim Accurso said.  [I hope he means to continue "at this time"]

The woman suing Keating is now 28, married and living in the Twin Cities. She is named in the lawsuit as “Doe 20” and asked during an interview with the Star Tribune that her name not be published to spare her from more trauma.

The woman, who describes herself as a devout Catholic, said she was hospitalized twice and suffered long periods of self-loathing and depression because the alleged abuse ruined her early teenage years.
...
The Chisago County Sheriff’s Department also investigated the girl’s allegations in 2006. In both instances, members of the girl’s family brought the complaints forward, saying she had suffered severe depression that included suicidal thoughts and a 10-day mental health stay at a Minneapolis hospital. No criminal charges were filed.  [buried at the end of the article of course]

continue at Strib

Okay, so I get a kick out of how Anderson likes to orchestrate these to all come out at the same time.  Mind you, I'm not saying the allegations are not true, but he's always looking for public support to remove limitations on how much money he can sue dioceses or Catholic entities for.  I wonder at what point they approached St. Thomas University?

Fr. Keating has written for Crisis Magazine so I assume not a liberal(too often we try to blame ideologies, but the truth is anyone is capable of crime).

Innocent until proven guilty, unless you are a priest.  

Here is Fr. Keating singing "Sooner or Later"...... perhaps a bit ironic.


Also recommended reading: Out For Blood: MPR and the Archdiocese

Report: Minn St. Paul Archdiocese knew of Minnesota priest's misconduct

ST. PAUL — When the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer was accused last year of sexually abusing children, officials from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis told police he would immediately be relieved of his duties and were praised for their quick response.

But top archdiocese officials had known of Wehmeyer's sexual compulsions for nearly a decade yet kept him in ministry and failed to warn parishioners, Minnesota Public Radio News reported today. MPR cited canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger, who resigned in April, and dozens of other interviews and documents.

A memo written in 2011 shows the former vicar general — the top deputy of the archdiocese — did not want employees at Wehmeyer's parish to know about his past.

“At every step of the way, this could have been prevented,” Haselberger said. “This is just failure after failure after failure after failure.”

Wehmeyer is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing two boys and possessing child pornography. He declined to comment, as did Archbishop John Nienstedt.

continue at Duluth Trib

Jennifer Haselberger was only appointed 5 years ago so this isn't some old dissident, the claims bears a great deal of weight. If it is true, good for her for speaking it, it's the right thing to do.

HT Ray

Photo MPR

Milwaukee abuse documents roundup

Abp. Listecki making rounds with media, like this WTMJ interview(full interview):


Full interview, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (Sklba question, Listecki defends)

That said....  it seemed the Archdiocese passed on the Wisconsin Public Radio interview

The Journal Sentinel has a section to the coverage.  http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/114180079.html  (They apparently do not have url SEO capabilities)

Thousands of documents released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday include a long-ago report of an accused priest granted a temporary assignment in Washburn only to reoffend in his new location, a lawyer reviewing the files told the News Tribune and Superior Telegram.

“If he is willing to come to Superior to work for a time until he has readjusted himself to the life of a diocesan priest, I shall be happy to receive him,” Bishop William O’Connor of the Diocese of Superior wrote to Milwaukee Archbishop Moses Kiley about the Rev. Oswald Krusing in November 1942.

continue at Duluth Trib

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki on Tuesday defended his predecessor's transfer of $57 million off the Roman Catholic archdiocese's books and into a special cemetery trust, saying Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, was simply ensuring that the funds would be used for their intended purpose.

A document released Monday as part of the bankruptcy shows Dolan sought Vatican approval for the transfer in June 2007, saying it would help protect the funds "from any legal claim or liability."

The letter was written just weeks before a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that allowed sex abuse victims to sue religious institutions for their actions in response to sexual abuse allegations under the state's fraud statute.

JS 

Jerome Listecki defends transfer of funds off archdiocese's books: Archbishop says Timothy Dolan preserved money for cemeteries, reports Annysa Johnson at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I assume the court will eventually rule for our Archdiocese on this, as it did regarding funds deposited with it by parishes for investment.

TPE

NECW: 5 Things to Know about Milwaukee clergy abuse

Fox6: Victim shares story of clergy sex abuse at age 8

New York Times: Dolan Sought to Protect Church Assets, Files Show

Fox News: Milwaukee diocese (sic) posts priest sex abuse records

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.
....
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.
...
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.

continue at JS

Abp. Listecki: Abuse documents to be posted next week

On April 3rd, I informed you of my decision to authorize the release of documents related to diocesan priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. These documents are scheduled to be posted to the archdiocesan website next week and I’m sure they will generate many stories in the news.

We have worked with the attorneys for abuse survivors who identified almost 6,000 pages of documents they believe should be made public and that best demonstrate how the archdiocese handled allegations of sexual abuse, responded to reports, and dealt with offending priests. Those are the documents that will be posted.

My hope in voluntarily making these documents public is that they will aid abuse survivors, families, and others in understanding the past, reviewing the present and allowing the Church in southeastern Wisconsin to continue moving forward. We can never tell abuse survivors enough how sorry we are for what they endured. My apology goes out to all who have been harmed and I continue to offer to meet with any individual abuse survivors who would find it helpful.

What we do today in responding to reports of abuse is different than in decades past but that fact does not erase the past. The documents present one part of the history of what happened and demonstrate how people tried to do their best with what they knew at the time. We may never have the complete picture because the records are not always clear and there is no way to delve more deeply because many of the people involved are dead or have had memories fade as 20, 30 or 40 years or more have passed.

But, we know that bad things happened to innocent children and youth.  The arc of understanding sexual abuse of a minor progressed from being seen as a moral failing and sin that needed personal resolve and spiritual direction; to a psychological deficiency that required therapy and could be cured; to issues of addiction requiring more extensive therapy and restrictions on ministry; to recognition of the long-term effects of abuse and the need to hold the perpetrator accountable for this criminal activity. 

Acknowledging our past means examining how the Church, especially its bishops and priests, dealt with this issue over the years.  It includes facing up to mistakes that were made, even if some of those mistakes become apparent only in hindsight.  It means demonstrating our resolve to make sure nothing like this can ever happen again.  Today, I am confident that no organization in the world does more to combat sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church in the United States.

continue at ArchMil

Green Bay Diocese clears retired priest of abuse charges

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay said Saturday it has cleared the Rev. Justin Werner in allegations of abuse of a minor at an Outagamie County church in the 1970s.

It said Werner, a retired senior priest, was cleared following an investigation.

“The independent investigator has concluded the allegation against Father Justin Werner is unsubstantiated,” the diocese said in a press release issued Saturday afternoon.

Restrictions on Werner’s ministry have been lifted by Bishop David Ricken.“At the same time, we as a diocese must be diligent in our due process to ensure the safety of our children and to advocate on behalf of victims/survivors,” the diocese said in the release. “Therefore, the investigation regarding the allegation of abuse from the 1970’s continues.”

continue at GBPG