Eucharistic All Night Vigil at Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa - March 1st

The March Eucharistic All Night Vigil of Reparation and Prayer will be held on Friday Night, March 1 at Christ King Parish, 2604 Swan Boulevard in Wauwatosa.

Confessions are available from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm and after each Priest Speaker. The Vigil Opening Mass begins at 8:00 pm followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all evening, and talks on the Vigil theme, Rosaries, and other devotions.

The Vigil is open to the public. Come — spend an hour... or stay all night if you can. These All Night Vigils began in September of 1965 in answer to our Lady's call at Fatima — to pray and do Penance for World Peace and for the conversion of sinners. The Vigil concludes with Mass at 5:00 AM on Saturday, March 2. Any questions — please call 414-254-2790.

via Men of Christ

JS: Priest pleads guilty to reduced charges for touching child at Wauwatosa school

A Milwaukee priest pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor sexual contact with a girl while at a Catholic school in Wauwatosa between 2007 and 2011.

Robert Marsicek, 76, who was removed from ministry in 2013, was charged in February with three felony counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child, but as a result of negotiations with prosecutors entered his pleas to fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor that involves sexual touching.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 15. He remains free on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond and conditions that he have no contact with the victim or anyone under the age of 18.

continue at JS

Salvatorian priest, subject of numerous complaints, criminally charged with sex assault of child at Wauwatosa parish

Four years after he was removed from ministry because of allegations of inappropriate contact with children, a Milwaukee priest has been charged with three counts of felony sexual assault of a child beginning when she was 6 years old.

The Rev. Robert R. Marsicek, 75, who had been the subject of numerous complaints from parents over the years and avoided a criminal charge in 2013, was charged Wednesday. Appearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Thursday, Marsicek said he was worried about the victim.

He was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond and was ordered to have no contact with the victim or anyone under the age of 18.

According to a criminal complaint, Marsicek repeatedly touched the child while at Pius X Parish and school in Wauwatosa between 2007 and 2010. Among the incidents, she said Marsicek at one point laid on her and touched her breasts and at another reached under her jumper to "pat" her vagina.

continue at JS

So is Annysa doing stories on the Church again?  Last I heard she was on education.  She turned the campaign into another attempt to bleed the archdiocese of money.  Like I've said numerous times, I'm all for reasonable settlements.  But ultimately felony criminal charges are what really matters here, not another SNAP pay for play scam.  Justice demands crimes do not go unpunished.  Ultimately this is a crime perpetrated by an individual.  The individual gets a fair trial whether they deserve it or not.  But invoking SNAP attack for cash causes the most important point at the end of the article to be missed.

Marsicek had a history of questionable contact with children during his 12 years at St. Pius X and had been counseled repeatedly by the archdiocese and the Salvatorians to stop touching them, according to documents obtained by police in 2013.  [NOT and appropriate response!]

Two Milwaukee archbishops had been made aware of complaints over the years, Archbishop Jerome Listecki in 2012 and then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, in 2005. When the 2013 allegations emerged, both the Milwaukee archdiocese and Salvatorians had known since May 2012 that Marsicek was under investigation in Sacramento, Calif., on allegations of sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980s to '90s. But they allowed him to remain in ministry for 10 months while those claims were investigated. At the time, Topczewski dismissed Marsicek's incidents with children as "boundary issues."

Listecki suggested in a letter to local Catholics in 2013 that the church may have erred by not removing Marsicek earlier.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but if the archdiocese has to tell a priest "stop touching children" there's no justifiable way that he can be left in ministry.  And if the archdiocese was already aware of the criminal allegations in his past, I don't care if he's not diocesan, he's getting the boot immediately and every Salvatorian serving in the archdiocesan borders is put on notice as the Salvatorian leadership is at the very minimum partly culpable.  This is the fundamental problem with the Dallas Charter and what Phil Lawler describe here: Catholic bishops 'don't get it'—the fundamental problem is a corrupt clerical culture.  It's no time to play Church politics.  It's time to strap on the army boots and kick some ass and let us know the archdiocese is as pissed off as the rest of us to hear about this shit going on regardless of what the damn lawyers are saying.

Background

HT Dad29

For 100 years Carmelite Sisters in Wauwatosa have cared for disenfranchised young boys

For 100 years, the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus have quietly cared for disenfranchised young boys on an unassuming residential street near downtown Wauwatosa.

First looking after toddlers and boys from broken homes, then shifting focus to delinquent adolescents, generations of sisters and their young charges have come and gone in the stately Victorian home on Kavanaugh Place known as the Carmelite Home for Boys.

“It’s the work that we do – we take care of children, the aged and the youth,” said Sr. Immaculata Osterhaus, superior of the Northern Province of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. “We’re willing to give our life, 24 hours a day if it has to be.”

The property on Kavanaugh Place and its inhabitants are a striking study in what can change over the course of a century, and what can stay the same.

Though the work done by the sisters and those for whom they do it have both undergone transformations; the spirit of that work – care for the vulnerable and a cheerful embrace of suffering – remains unaltered.

continue at MkeCH

In letter to parishioners, Abp Listecki outlines efforts to prevent abuse

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki recently shared the annual report on the diocese’s response to the ongoing issue of sexual abuse by clergy.

The annual report on what the diocese is doing to reach out to victims of clergy abuse and prevent futher abuse is required to comply with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It was released in September.

In a letter to parishioners, Listecki said the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s efforts include national and state background checks, sexual abuse prevention and awareness training, and the development of an office dedicated to offering total victim/survivor support.

“Most importantly, no priest with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor is allowed to publicly minister in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,” Listecki wrote.

The statement comes at a time when Listecki is under scrutiny by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests for not taking quicker action concerning the Rev. Robert Marsicek.

Marsicek, pastor of two Milwaukee area parishes with grade schools, was suspended from his job in March after it was learned he is involved in a child sex abuse investigation in Wauwatosa.

Peter Isley, a spokesman for SNAP, said Marsicek has also been under investigation in California since last May for child sexual assaults that took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Listecki futher wrote to parishioners that he is commited to making amends.

“I pray every day that those harmed will one day find peace,” he wrote in the letter. “I also pledge, along with so many others in this archdiocese, to an unwavering commitment to act proactively and diligently to prevent crimes against children in our churches and schools and to act as a change agent in our communities so that other institutions stand with us in this fight against childhood abuse.”

According to the report, response efforts continue for individuals who have suffered sexual abuse by clergy. When a person contacts the victim assistance coordinator, a variety of resources are offered, including counseling referrals, spiritual direction and therapy support.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has also implemented the Safeguarding All of God’s Family program. All adults who work with children in a church setting are required to know the warning signs of abuse, are taught strategies for handling suspicions of abuse and are instructed on mandatory reporting laws.

KenoshaNews