A Catholic priest in Waukesha County is on temporary administrative leave after allegations of child sexual assault.
Father Mark Molling of St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot was placed on leave while the Archdiocese of Milwaukee investigates an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in the mid-1990s, according to an email sent by Archbishop Jerome Listecki.
In the email, Listecki writes that Molling denies the allegation. The allegations were reported to the Waukesha County district attorney's office, which declined to file charges.
The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests reports that Molling has worked as a resident chaplain at state juvenile corrections facility Ethan Allen School for Boys in Wales.
"The way the diocese made the statement, it's unclear if the DA declined to prosecute because the statute of limitations ran out or if there were other problems," John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin director, said Sunday.
The report of the alleged sexual abuse by Molling was filed with the federal bankruptcy court as part of the Archdiocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy claims process. Before the Feb. 1 deadline, 570 claims of sexual abuse by individual victims were filed, and Molling appears to be one of at least 100 unidentified persons accused of committing at least 8,000 instances of sexual abuse against children in the archdiocese, according to SNAP.
The report of the alleged sexual abuse by Molling was filed with the federal bankruptcy court as part of the Archdiocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy claims process. Before the Feb. 1 deadline, 570 claims of sexual abuse by individual victims were filed, and Molling appears to be one of at least 100 unidentified persons accused of committing at least 8,000 instances of sexual abuse against children in the archdiocese, according to SNAP.
Read the rest here.
St. Paul's was recently ... remodeled:
More photos here.
3 comments:
While I'm pretty darn traditional in my preference for liturgical music, art, architecture, and the ars celebrendi of the priest offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, and have been in the renovated St. Paul's and have quite disliked the aesthetic experience, I wonder why it is necessary to even mention this in the article.
Is your intention to imply that the reason that a priest from this parish is being investigated (please note, only investigated at this point) is that the parish has been remodelled into a less that preferred design? The two are not at all linked, and to make such an implication is extremely unfair, especially when we look at the overwhelming number of abuses that took place prior to make "wreckovations" in this country and in the Archdiocese of Milaukee.
We need to desperately reclaim the Sacred Arts, particularly as they pertain to the Liturgical life of the Church.
We also need to desperately get out every blip of abuse of power, particularly against innocent children.
There can be no question of the need for these two. However, a third also cannot be dismissed. We cannot fall into the trap of implying that someone's less than traditonal taste in the Liturgical arts, or their borderline heresy (or even full-fledged heresy) automatically qualifies them as a perpetrator of God's most innocent creatures.
I don't think it was a quid pro quo. Certainly any person could perpetrate sins(not to say this priest is guilty either). Just a follow up comment as to the actual parish he was stationed at.
Wait, I missed the part where I wrote that bad church design leads to abuse allegations?
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