JS: At least 8 Wisconsin priests are on the Jesuits' latest list of accused abusers

At least eight Catholic priests with ties to Wisconsin are among those identified Monday in an ongoing effort by the Jesuit religious order to make public the names of priests and brothers with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

The Jesuits' USA Midwest and Maryland provinces released the names of 89 priests and brothers with credible or established allegations of sexually abusing a minor since the 1950s, several of whom had already been named among the 151 identified Dec. 7 by the west and south-central provinces.

The Midwest list includes four accused of molesting minors while they were serving at Marquette University or Marquette University High School. Allegations against four others stem from their time at Campion High School in Prairie du Chien.

It also identifies two additional Chicago priests supervised by former Marquette University President Robert Wild, who pulled his name from a new $108 million residence hall this fall, saying he mishandled allegations against three priests when he led that province from 1985 to 1991.

continue at JS

Former Marquette President Fr. Robert Wild asks for name to be removed from residence hall

The Rev. Robert Wild, one of Marquette University's most celebrated former presidents, asked the school to take his name off a new residence hall Tuesday, acknowledging for the first time that he mishandled accusations of sexual abuse against three members of his Jesuit order in Chicago more than 25 years ago.

Wild — who still works at Marquette in fundraising — directed the activities of Jesuits in northern Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and southwestern Ohio as provincial superior of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) from 1985 to 1991.

"During my six years in office, accusations of sexual abuse of minors were lodged against three of our members. Looking back, I would have handled certain aspects of those cases rather differently than I did then," Wild said in a letter to Marquette President Michael R. Lovell and the school's board of directors.

continue at JS

If only one Abp. Weakland could find the courage to do the same. 

JS: Marquette unveils new $15 million Jesuit Residence

The private donors who gave $15 million to build a new Jesuit Residence and develop landscaped open space in the center of the Marquette University campus were inspired by an opportunity to support the priests who teach and minister there.

"It was impressive, and we are extremely grateful," said former Marquette President Father Robert A. Wild, who took reporters on a tour of the 40,000-square-foot, five-story brick residence where he and 24 other Jesuit priests just moved before the building's formal dedication Friday.

Wild served as the university's president from 1996 to 2011 and returned as interim president before President Michael Lovell was appointed last year. He still works at Marquette part time in fundraising.

"I thought this might be tough fundraising, but it came together as quickly as any project we've had at Marquette," Wild said of the new residence. "The building was entirely funded when we put the shovel in the ground."

Wild described the cost of the project as "fairly reasonable." The building was designed by Kubala Washatko Architects and built by KBS Construction for $8 million to $9 million.

continue at JS

Don't worry folks, they made sure the chapel looked poorer than Pope Francis.

I do like this little addition though.

JS: Robert Wild, Michael Lovell look ahead to historic transition at Marquette University

Next week, a priest will make history when he hands off the top job at Marquette University to an engineer.

Interim President Father Robert A. Wild will move down one floor of Zilber Hall to work part time in fundraising. And former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Michael Lovell will move in as the first lay president in the Jesuit school's 133-year history.

Marquette is the 10th of 28 Jesuit universities around the country to transition from a priest to a lay president.

Wild saw this day coming more than 20 years ago, when he was on the Marquette University Board of Trustees in the early 1990s. He knew the number of Jesuits who potentially could lead the university was quickly dwindling, and he lobbied for the change against vocal opponents, he said.

One former chairman of the board proclaimed the change would happen over his dead body, Wild recalled.

The trustee has since died.

continue at JS

Marquette Univ. names Michael Lovell, UW-Milwaukee chancellor, as next president

Michael Lovell may not be a Jesuit. And he may not be a priest.

But the newly appointed president of Marquette University is a deeply spiritual Catholic whose faith will inform all he does as the first lay leader in the school's 133-year history, says a longtime friend and spiritual adviser, who counseled Lovell and his wife, Amy, regularly during the selection process.

"He's a very prayerful man. He asks God to guide him in anything he does," said Father Bryan Summers, a Pennsylvania parish priest who first met the Lovells when he served as chaplain at the University of Pittsburgh, where they were students.

"He's an extraordinary man who God gave many gifts. And I can't think of a better place for him to use those gifts than at a Catholic university."

Lovell, who has served as chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 2011, was announced as Marquette's new president Wednesday afternoon. Lovell said he initially declined to be considered for the post, but eventually felt called to accept after prayerful discussions with Summers and interim Marquette President Father Robert A. Wild.

"It became clear to me I was called to Milwaukee six years ago to be Marquette's president," said Lovell, who with his wife planned to attend a special Mass and dinner at Marquette's Jesuit residence on Wednesday.

"I really need to thank God for leading me to this day."

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/michael-lovell-joins-several-other-lay-leaders-of-catholic-colleges-b99233959z1-252513621.html#ixzz2xGZBMOw7
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

JS has much more coverage there.  Sounds like a solid guy, maybe it's best not to have a Jesuit priest leading MU?  Anybody in the know want to share?  

Marquette's Fr. Wild back for lecture tonight: How Catholic are Catholic universities?

How Catholic are Catholic universities?

Retired Marquette President Father Robert Wild will address that question at 7 p.m. tonight in the 2012 Jerome Lecture at St. Jerome’s Catholic Church, 995 S. Silver Lake St. in Oconomowoc.

Several Catholic Universities and have faced criticism in recent years over courses, appointments and invitations to speakers many conservative faithful deem not representative of Catholic teaching. They include Marquette, which ignited a firestorm in 2010 when it hired — and then rescinded its offer to — an openly gay woman whose views on homosexuality contradict the Catholic hierarchy’s[..tsk tsk].

Scholars have been sanctioned, and bishops have discussed ways to better rein in universities. Most Catholic universities, including Marquette, are privately chartered institutions. However, under canon law, local bishops are the final arbiter of whether they may call themselves Catholic, according to the Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Wild, who left Marquette in 2011, now serves as a special assistant for advancement for the Society of Jesus’, or Jesuits’, Chicago-Detroit and Wisconsin provinces.

Annysa at FaithWatch

Would someone be so kind to attend and get audio?  Does anyone know if it will be recorded? 

Fr. Wild moonwalks Marquette away from her Catholic Identitiy

When the Golden Eagles are on the court, shouts of “We Are Marquette” ring through the Bradley Center.

Thanks to the 15-year presidency of Jesuit Fr. Robert A. Wild, the university has a more distinct identity, making that cheer a virtual rallying cry campus-wide.

Reflecting on his retirement during an interview with your Catholic Herald in mid-July, just before his retirement effective July 31, Fr. Wild said “addressing our Jesuit, Catholic identity in a more explicit way[ROFL]” was one of his most important accomplishments at Marquette.

Fr. Wild served as a provincial in the 1980s, and when he met with other provincials “we spent more time on the issue of Jesuit higher education than anything else,” he said.

“When I became president of Marquette (in 1996), I said we’d better walk the walk here[aka, moonwalk away from the pope],” Fr. Wild said.

An important step, Fr. Wild said, was the crafting of a mission statement in 2000, summarized by four words: excellence, faith[Would be nice to see that defined... uh and maybe first on the list?], leadership and service. [Hmm, I was waiting for hospitality]

“We worked to put flesh on those bones,” he added, noting the work of “two A-Team players,” Stephanie Russell and Jesuit Fr. Douglas Leonhardt in Marquette’s Office of Mission and Ministry.

Faculty and administrators were given more background on Catholic and Jesuit spirituality[apparently they are different?]. With input from then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a semester-long seminar was developed for new hires, Fr. Wild said.  [Interesting, I hope drums were not involved.]

“It gives people an understanding of what’s at stake in Catholic education,” he explained. [Here's what "Catholic education" means to the establishment.]

Another key player was the late Howard Eisenberg, dean of the law school, who described himself as a “conservadox Jew,” according to Fr. Wild.

“He would say, ‘I’m not Catholic, but I really value this mission, so I’m not going to be shy about talking about it,’” Fr. Wild recalled. “It moved us into areas like pro bono service to the poor and a variety of things that were important.” [These thing are important, but who decides which Church teachings are acceptable to be taught and which are not at Marquette?]

Fr. Wild said his other two major goals in the job were continuing to strengthen academic quality, and getting the university more fiscally sound.

continue at Milwaukee Catholic Herald

A glowing piece that doesn't address any of the scandal in his tenure, particularly the Infanticide Feingold hire and his rightful reversal of the hire of Dr. Jodi O'Brien after pressure from Abp. Listecki amongst others.  Let's face it, the problem is that entrenched liberals at Marquette cannot be fired(tenure) and replaced by a solid faculty.  It would take a miracle for Marquette to go it alone and reestablish itself with a truly Catholic Identity(or a Fr. Michael Scanlan).  Marquette isn't a leader, it's a follower.  If an earthquake hit Notre Dame and all of the sudden the administration had second thoughts about abortion, dissent, ect, Marquette then would follow.  All of that said, Fr. Wild is solid on the administrative side, fundraising, facilities ect.  But a point in time will come when folks chose the Faith first.  I hope all these wonderful new building don't have to become empty before that lesson is learned.  The again, what's the point of filling up the seats if it will cost students their souls.

Not quoted in this article, the archbishop. 

Marquette failed to properly report rape allegations to police over last 10 years

Virginia ran across this in the Chicago Tribune:

MILWAUKEE — On a chilly Sunday morning, a 19-year-old Marquette University student walked into the campus security office and tearfully reported being raped by an athlete just hours earlier.

She says two of the officers on duty that February day dismissed her claim, telling her they didn't know whether it was a crime because she alleged the encounter began as consensual sex and ended as an assault.

No report was taken, and Milwaukee police were not notified by the university, which insists the woman said she did not want authorities involved.

The university now acknowledges that failing to notify police was a violation of state law, which requires campus security departments to report any possible crimes to local authorities. School officials also did not tell police about a sexual attack allegation involving four athletes in October.

In fact, Marquette administrators told the Tribune that they have violated their reporting obligations for the past 10 years. And in at least the two most recent cases, the lapse played a role in prosecutors declining to press charges.

continue at ChicagoTrib

and an update in MJS:

Marquette University officials acknowledged Wednesday that the university made mistakes in how it handled student reports of sexual assaults and said they've worked out a way to improve how they report sexual assaults to city police.

Previously, officials with Marquette's public safety department left it up to the student who reported a sexual assault whether to report that assault to the Milwaukee Police Department. But that was against Wisconsin law, which mandates that a private security firm that believes a crime has been committed has to promptly notify police. Now students will be told the incident will be reported, but they have a choice of whether to talk to police.

Marquette University President Father Robert A. Wild stressed that the student athlete-involved incidents reported to the university's Department of Public Safety in the fall and spring were investigated by the university and action was taken in accordance with the student conduct code. He said Milwaukee law enforcement officials filed no charges, but the university could have done better.

$43 million in thanks to Marquette's Father Wild

More than $43 million in scholarship funds have been donated to Marquette University in honor of retiring President Father Robert A. Wild, university officials announced Thursday night at a gala event in which Wild was lauded for presiding over the transformation of the university during one of the most expansive periods in its history.

The amount raised through the Legacy of Leadership campaign, which focused primarily on endowed scholarships, totals $43,692,623, university officials announced at the send off for Wild at the Bradley Center attended by more than 800 alumni, faculty and staff and community leaders.

The amount exceeded the campaign's goal of $30 million. The university also raised $9,359,429 to address the immediate needs of Marquette students, said Mary Ladish Selander, co-chairwoman of the scholarship campaign.

"We've surpassed my wildest hopes," Wild told attendees after noting he wanted to make scholarships a special focus during the final year of his presidency.

More than 2,300 people contributed to the campaign, including current and past trustees of the university who gave or pledged $31.4 million, Venne said.

The donations also included 10 seven-figure gifts, she said.

Continue at JSOnline 

Apparently the Infanticide Fiengold move was a hit with donors.

SNAP group seeks apology from Father Wild

Clergy sex abuse survivors on Wednesday called for Father Robert Wild, president of Marquette University, to apologize for leaving pedophile priest Donald McGuire in active ministry when Wild led the Chicago Jesuits in the 1980s, and to join in calling for more disclosure by the Jesuits about abusive priests within the order.

At a news conference at Marquette, members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also handed out excerpts of documents filed Monday in a Chicago court that SNAP says show Jesuits "knew with certainty that McGuire was a serial predator and an ongoing and chronic danger to children," yet took no steps to protect them, while actively covering for McGuire.

A SNAP letter to Wild read: "Mindful of your many accomplishments during the course of your impressive Jesuit career and grateful for your decades of service to the Catholic community, we are nonetheless deeply disappointed and alarmed to learn that one of those Jesuit superiors, according to the evidence in the Chicago documents, was you."

Wild declined to comment Wednesday. Marquette released a statement noting that the material is the subject of ongoing litigation involving the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, the formal name of the Jesuit order. Wild announced last year he would retire in June.

McGuire became famous as the spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, but played off that connection to attract more families whose sons became his victims on worldwide travels, said Peter Isely, SNAP's Midwest regional director.

JSOnline

Soooo go ahead and reread this and tell me this isn't about Anderson's anti-Catholicism.  "Mindful of your many accomplishments during the course of your impressive Jesuit career and grateful for your decades of service to the Catholic community....."   Has Anderson ever addressed an orthodox bishop the same way?  Wild promotes homosexual acts and Anderson gives him a big kiss? 

Then this story happened to appear very quickly after the above.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great response, the right kind of response.  What we probably wont hear about is the problems discussed in Goodbye, Good Men. 

The two-day conference, sponsored by Marquette University Law School's Restorative Justice Initiative, will explore the wide-ranging effects of the crisis and ways Catholics are addressing the damage - both to victims and others who've lost their faith as a result.

"We're looking at this as a path of healing," said Marquette law professor Janine Geske, who leads the Restorative Justice Initiative. "Things people inside and outside (the church) can do to help survivors and their families and others who have lost their faith."

Some survivors have criticized the conference as too church-heavy[?] and unrepresentative of the more critical voices on the issues. [How can you have a conference about abuse in the Church without the Church?]

Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests takes issue with the conference being hosted by a Jesuit institution when many survivors, he said, think the Jesuits have been less than transparent about their handling of sex abuse cases in their own order.

"This is not bishops and scholars, survivors and law enforcement meeting on equal terms to hold a much needed conversation," Isely said. Still, he added, "It is always a hopeful sign when the issue is being acknowledged and addressed."

Organizers had hoped that the much anticipated report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the causes and context of the sex abuse crisis would have been released at or in advance of the conference.

Margaret Smith of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which is conducting the research, is scheduled to speak on its findings. Although preliminary findings have been reported, the final report still is being drafted, according to the Bishops Conference.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki will welcome participants but is not involved in the discussions.

Marquette's Fr. Wild applies "Jesuit principle" by introducing homosexual benefits

Marquette University plans to start offering domestic partner benefits to its employees in 2012, a move that comes about a year after the university's decision to rescind a job offer to a lesbian candidate caused the campus to erupt in debate.

In a statement sent to the campus Thursday afternoon, Marquette President Robert A. Wild said he's been wrestling with an idea of offering the benefits that would provide services for gay and lesbian employees for years.

University officials note said the timing of the announcement was influenced by votes in recent weeks by the University Academic Senate and the Marquette University Student Government that have urged the university to offer benefits for domestic partners.

“If we are truly pastoral in our application of the Jesuit principle of cura personalis, I asked myself if I could reconcile that with denying health benefits to a couple who have legally registered their commitment to each other,” Wild said. In Latin, cura personalis means "care for the entire person."

Wild noted that the State of Wisconsin gives legal recognition both to marriage for heterosexual couples and to a registered domestic partnership for same-sex couples.

Last March, before the incident involving O'Brien, Wild announced he would step down in June 2011 after about 15 years at the helm of Marquette. He said he had discussed his decision with trustees, including Rev. Scott Pilarz, Marquette’s incoming president.

JSOnline

MJS writers seem to think it's part of a settlement for the Jodi O'Brien incident.  Interesting, maybe it's true.  There was closed door negotiations. 

Honestly, the benefits thing isn't that big of a deal to me.  Yes, they are in a sense encouraging detrimental sexual behavior, but if they've been teaching it for 20 years then I guess there just aligning themselves with "Jesuit principles."

Fr. Wild could have taken the middle ground(something that could, at least on the surface, realistically be defended as pastoral).  He could have said, although our faith shows us that the traditional family is to be protected and promoted, we live in a fallen world and we do not to abandon those who do not live by that same faith. 

What is horrifying is that Fr. Wild invocation of cura personalis(the care for the whole person).  In effect, he is either saying that persons with same sex attraction have no souls or that they are not worth bothering with.  What a horrible position to take.  Those souls that are difficult to save are all the more worth saving.  Has he even once on his campus encouraged any program that would help those struggling with same sex attraction to overcome their passions?

Even if he was being intellectually honest, he could have just said he disagrees with the Catholic Church's teachings on several matters including sexuality.  He could have said in this fallen world no person can control their sexual desires.  Or he could have said that sexuality was never intended by God to have a purpose.  Or that this purpose did not include procreation or physical uhhh compatibility.  Whatever, just be honest about it.  Hiding behind "truly pastoral" is a sham.

"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Revelation to St Faustina, Divine Mercy Novena