Onalaska priest charged with child porn posession *update

MADISON - State agents have arrested an Onalaska priest suspected of possessing child pornography.

The state Justice Department issued a statement saying the Rev. Patrick Umberger was taken into custody today. He has not been formally charged and the statement offered no other details except to say the agency's Internet Crimes Against Children's Task Force was involved.

Messages left at the Diocese of La Crosse and with Umberger's attorney weren't immediately returned. According to Umberger's Web site, he serves at St. Patrick's Parish and teaches at the parish school. He also describes himself as the diocese's webmaster.

La Crosse Tribune


Fr. Umberger has not been the diocesan webmaster for some time.  He almost died (I think most people thought he wouldn't make it) due to a recent bout with cancer.  Barely surviving he has only recently worked his way back into full-time active ministry.  He also sponsors children in the missions in Africa.  I'm pretty doubtful on this one.  If so, the state Justice Department will have alot of explaining to do how they could destroy someones good name publicly, which will now never be fully repaired.  If it is true, miserere nobis. 

Update from Tribune:

State agents Wednesday arrested a Diocese of La Crosse priest for possession of child pornography after finding images on his computer, officials said. The Rev. Patrick Umberger, 59, is in the La Crosse County Jail and expected to appear today in La Crosse County Circuit Court. The state Department of Justice declined to release more information until a criminal complaint is filed.

Umberger, who serves St. Patrick’s Parish in Onalaska, has been removed from active ministry pending the investigation, Diocesan attorney Jim Birnbaum said.

“This action should not be interpreted as any indication of assessment of guilt or innocence,” Birnbaum said. “It is taken to protect all parties involved.”

The parish’s deacon, Frank Abnet, referred questions to the diocese. A message left there after hours Wednesday wasn’t immediately returned.

Umberger is a Stoddard native who was ordained in 1980 by former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland after attending St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, according to his website. He has a bachelor’s degree in instrumental and vocal music from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Update 2

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (WXOW) -- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, is responding to the arrest of Father Patrick Umberger.

In a statement released to the media, Peter Isely, the Midwest Director for the organization says, "The arrest by Wisconsin authorities of Fr. Patrick Umberger, a well known and longtime priest of the diocese of La Crosse, demonstrates once again that it is law enforcement that will provide the ultimate solution to the problem of clergy sex crimes."

Based on the statement, the group is highly critical of the way that the Catholic church handles sex abuse scandals.

"We hope that every person who may have seen, suspected or suffered from child sex crimes will find the courage and strength to report to law enforcement officials, not church officials, says Isely. "By speaking up, we can help protect others and heal ourselves. And by giving information to police and prosecutors, we can help keep sex offenders off the streets and off the internet."

WXOW runs all SNAP press releases.  Is SNAP inferring the Diocese of La Crosse knew he had child porn on his computer??