Wisconsin AG to launch statewide investigation of Catholic clergy sex abuse

Wisconsin authorities will launch an investigation into the state's Catholic dioceses and religious orders to determine how many clergy members have sexually assaulted children over the years.

Attorney General Josh Kaul notified the state's five dioceses as well as separate orders of Catholic priests that his office will review sexual abuse allegations against clergy and other faith leaders, according to a letter obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Wisconsin is home to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and dioceses in Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse and Superior.

"I agree with the many survivors of clergy abuse, and those who support and have advocated for them, that a review by our office is necessary to provide accountability and, ultimately, healing," Kaul wrote. "I hope you will welcome that review."

Kaul, a Democrat in his first term, invited representatives for the dioceses and orders to a meeting Monday to discuss next steps and indicated his office would announce the review soon after. The letter also asked that dioceses preserve any relevant documents or information.

continue at JS

 

State plans to drop charges against a Pewaukee priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenager

Eddie Morales and Steven Martinez reported at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"The Rev. Charles Hanel, 62, was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a then-13-year-old girl at Queen of Apostles Church in Pewaukee.

"But Assistant District Attorney Mike Thurston filed a letter on Wednesday, stating his intent to drop the charges at the next hearing on June 29."

The case has been pending since Fall 2018.

Retired 94 year old La Crosse priest on leave of absence after charged with sexual assault

Monsignor Bernard McGarty with the Diocese of La Crosse is charged with fourth degree sexual assault.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman reported that the 94-year-old priest approached her on a bench behind the Main Library on Saturday, May 11th.

The report also states that the victim accuses McGarty of offering her money for sex, trying to kiss her and taking her hand and putting it on his genitals.

An employee of the library was able to find the surveillance video of that day, which appears to corroborate the woman's story.

The Diocese says:

"On May 16, 2019, the Diocese of La Crosse learned of a recent situation at the La Crosse Public Library involving Msgr. Bernard McGarty, 94, a retired priest of the Diocese of La Crosse. According to diocesan policy Msgr. McGarty, from this moment forward, is on a leave of absence from public ministry while this current situation is being investigated. Due to this being an ongoing investigation, the Diocese of La Crosse has no further comment at this time."

WKBT

This same priest was charged in a similar incident in 2014.

Pewaukee priest accused of groping teen in confessional pleads not guilty

The 61-year-old Pewaukee priest accused of groping a teenage congregant while she was in a confessional with him has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the girl.

The Rev. Chuck Hanel entered his plea Jan. 15 during his arraignment in Waukesha County Circuit Court, court records show. He stands accused of second-degree sexual assault of a child.

A 14-year-old girl reported to police in April that Hanel touched her breast and leg in a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church in December 2017, when she was 13.

She also said in a criminal complaint that when she entered the confessional, Hanel closed the door behind her — something she said he did not do with anyone else, including her father, who entered the confessional before her.

continue at JS

Again, face to face confessions is a huge mistake.  If your church doesn't have screen confessions, go some other place.  If you are a priest and your church does not have a divided confessional, put one in.  Removing the confessional screen does nothing but expose penitent to potential abuse, and exposing the priest to a crime that he cannot defend himself against. 

Investigation finds 47 priests in Green Bay diocese with substantiated abuse allegations

GREEN BAY (WLUK) - The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay on Thursday revealed results of its third-party investigation into its files on priests and deacons. The investigation was focused on finding any incidents of sexual abuse against minors by priests or deacons.

“We have to win back trust, and we're really working hard at that,” said Bishop David Ricken.

The diocese has identified 47 priests and released clergy names of 46 with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor on its website.

“There may be other people out there we don't know about everything we know we're putting in this,” said Ricken at a news conference at Bona Hall on the diocese’s property in Allouez.

All but one of the names were posted to the diocese's website. That one priest is challenging the allegations, so his name was omitted.

The diocese hired Defenbaugh & Associates out of Texas last fall to investigate the files it has maintained on priests and deacons in its 157 parishes. The investigation looked into any credible accusations of sexual misconduct. That independent investigation followed the diocese's own internal review.

continue at Fox11

Vatican urged to reveal status of ousted Archbishop Nienstedt

VATICAN CITY – A prominent U.S. archbishop is asking the Vatican for answers about the status of an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by his predecessor, who was forced to resign in 2015.

St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda wrote a remarkable letter to his flock Friday in which he revealed he sent the Vatican in 2016 a new allegation of improprieties with minors against retired Archbishop John Nienstedt.

It was not immediately clear if the alleged incident in Germany was ever investigated. Nienstedt has denied the allegation.

continue at FoxNews

Pewaukee priest accused of groping a teenage girl in a confessional is bound over for trial

A Waukesha County Circuit court commissioner on Nov. 30 bound over for trial a 61-year-old Pewaukee priest charged with inappropriately touching a teenage congregant.

The Rev. Chuck Hanel is free on a $10,000 signature bond and due back in court Jan. 15 for his arraignment. Hanel stands accused of of second-degree sexual assault of a child.

A 14-year-old girl reported to police in April that Hanel touched her breast and leg in a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church in December 2017, when she was 13.

She also said in a criminal complaint that when she entered the confessional, Hanel closed the door behind her — something she said he did not do with anyone else, including her father, who entered the confessional before her.

continue at JS

Former Superior Diocese priest arrested for assault charges in the early 1980s

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A former priest with several allegations of sexual abuse beginning in the 1980s was arrested Friday on sexual assault charges.

The Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office says Thomas E. Ericksen, 71, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, second-degree sexual assault against a child and second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim. These three charges stem from complaints reported between June of 1982 to September of 1983.

continue at CBS 4

Scott Walker moving to revoke defrocked priests' state licenses

The Associated Press reported at the Wisconsin State Journal.

"The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that the priests served in the Milwaukee Archdiocese. After they were forced out, they gained state licenses to enter professions including social work, nursing, alcohol and drug counseling, and funeral home work.
...
"On Thursday, Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said regulators with the state Department of Safety and Professional Services have lodged complaints against them and the governor thinks they should lose their licenses."

Illinois priest removed for homosexual porn, misappropriating $29,000

An Illinois priest accused of patronizing a male prostitute in the 1990s and misappropriating $40,000 from a parish in 2005 has now been removed from ministry for “immoral activity” involving homosexual pornography and allegedly misspending up to $29,000 at two parishes he oversaw in the Diocese of Springfield.

The Rev. Barry J. Harmon, 55, was removed from ministry and will apply for laicization, Springfield Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki wrote in a Sept. 5 email to diocesan priests. Harmon has agreed to make restitution for the misappropriated funds, Paprocki said. Harmon was initially placed on medical leave Oct. 30, 2017 from his role as pastor of Mother of Dolors Catholic Church in Vandalia and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ramsey, Ill.

During the medical leave, the diocese discovered financial irregularities at the parishes, and “immoral activity inconsistent with the life of a priest,” Paprocki wrote. He did not offer details. “We have found nothing to indicate that there was inappropriate activity with minors,” Paprocki wrote. Diocesan spokeswoman Marlene Mulford would not elaborate on the “immoral activity,” but she said the diocese “is sure this does not involve minors.”

continue at Catholic World Report

Pewaukee priest accused of inappropriately touching teenage girl during confession

A Waukesha County priest is accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl in a confessional at church.

Father Chuck Hanel, the long-time pastor of Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in Pewaukee is charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child.

The teenage girl was an altar server and reader at the church. According to the criminal complaint, she claims Father Hanel “touched her breast over her clothes, then rested his hand on her leg near her privates” while she was face to face with him inside a confessional. She said her parents were inside the church when it happened last December.

continue to WTMJ

This article is from last week btw and the incident originally happened in April. 

For the record, face to face confessions should be outlawed for this exact reason. 

déja vu: Father Mankoski on 'What Went Wrong?'

From Fr. Paul Mankowski, July 15, 2003, at Catholic Culture.

"the single important difference in the Church’s failure regarding abusive clergy and the failures regarding liturgy, catechesis, pro-life politics, doctrinal dissent and biblical translation is this: that in the case of the sex abuse scandal we’ve been allowed a look over the bishops’ shoulders at their own memos. ...

"What we read in those files was shocking, true, but to most of us it was shocking in its sense of déja vu. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, the housewife who complained that Father skipped the Creed at mass and the housewife who complained that Father groped her son had remarkably similar experiences of being made to feel that they themselves were somehow in the wrong; that they had impugned the honor of virtuous men; that their complaints were an unwelcome interruption of more important business; that the true situation was fully known to the chancery and completely under control; that the wider and more complete knowledge of higher ecclesiastics justified their apparent inaction; that to criticize the curate was to criticize the pastor was to criticize the regional vicar was to criticize the bishop; that to publicize one’s dissatisfaction was to give scandal and would positively harm discreet efforts at remedying the ills; that one’s duty was to maintain silence and trust that those officially charged with the pertinent responsibilities would execute them in their own time; that delayed correction of problems was sometimes necessary for the universal good of the Church.
...
"In thousands and thousands of pages of records one scarcely, if ever, is edified by a pleasant surprise, by discovering that a bishop’s or superior’s concern for the victim or for the Faith was greater than that known to the public, that the engines of justice were geared up and running at full throttle, but in a manner invisible to those outside the circle of discretion. Didn’t happen."

Fifteen years, yet it seems like ...

...only yesterday, Catholic faithful demand change after sex abuse scandals, by Amy Forliti, Associated Press, at Crux, September 9, 2018.

Illinois launches investigation into Catholic dioceses after Pennsylvania report

The Attorney General of Illinois is to set up a sex abuse enquiry in the six dioceses in the state.

“The Catholic Church has a moral obligation to provide its parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behaviour involving priests,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said on Thursday.

Her action follows on from the recent grand jury report in Pennsylvania that identified 1,000 alleged sex abuse victims of 300 priests during a 70-year period.

“We have reviewed the Pennsylvania grand jury report, which identifies at least seven priests with connections to Illinois,” Mrs Madigan’s office stated. “The Chicago Archdiocese has agreed to meet with me. I plan to reach out to the other dioceses in Illinois to have the same conversation and expect the bishops will agree and cooperate fully.”

continue at Catholic Herald

This will get interesting. 

Update, and by interesting I mean here are some of the cases:

In Settlement, St. Paul Archdiocese to Pay $210M to Sex Abuse Victims

Steve Karnowski and Amy Forliti reported.

"The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has agreed to a $210 million settlement with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making it the second-largest U.S. payout in the scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church.

"Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the settlement was reached with the victims and the archdiocese and includes accountability measures."

More at Insurance Journal.

Retired Madison priest faces sexual assault charges in Jefferson County

A retired Madison priest has been charged with several criminal counts relating to sexual abuse allegations during his tenure at a Fort Atkinson church.

Bill Nolan, 64, faces counts of second degree sexual assault of a child, according to court records, and made his initial court appearance through a video conference from Jefferson County Jail.

Nolan is a retired priest-in-residence at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, parish officials told parishioners in an email Thursday.

Judge Jennifer Weston set bail at $50,000 with the stipulation that Nolan not leave the state, have no contact with any children under the age of 18, no presence at St. Joseph's and no contact with the accuser, court documents show.

continue at WisSJ

Diocese of Madison statement

Priest accused in 124 Guam sex abuse cases ages quietly, alone

PINE CITY, Minn. – Statues of the Virgin Mary and portraits of Jesus loom over Louis Brouillard in his small apartment. He lives alone, two blocks from Pine City Elementary School and across the street from St. Mary’s Catholic preschool — close enough to hear children’s laughter when they play at recess.

The retired priest no longer wears a collar, but the people in this small town an hour north of Minnesota’s Twin Cities still call him "Father." He is 96 years old.

Brouillard's peaceful life stands in stark contrast to the torment of 122 men and two women – all middle-age or retired now — who accuse him of sexually molesting them as children on the island of Guam. They have broken long-held silences and filed lawsuits. Some have protested and begged for justice. Somehave left the church.

A long time ago, some of them complained. Brouillard confessed, and was told to pray and try harder. Eventually, the island's Catholic church simply sent Brouillard away.

continue at USA Today

St Cloud MN priest arrested for sexual misconduct

A St. Cloud priest was arrested this week on suspicion of sexual misconduct. Just how unusual is that? Pretty unusual, but becoming more common, a local expert says.

The Rev. Anthony Oelrich was arrested Tuesday and faces charges of sexual misconduct for having a sexual relationship with a woman he was counseling spiritually.

Has it happened here before?

Oelrich's case is the first time a specific statute regarding clergy abuse in a counseling relationship has been used in Stearns County since 2005, said Janelle Kendall, county attorney. That's as far back as her database goes.

In the books, it's referred to as criminal sexual conduct in the third degree. The same statute has another section pertaining to psychotherapists forbidding sexual relationships with clients they are counseling.

continue at SC Times 

Man wants mom's tombstone to say she 'supported priest rapist victims,' but Joliet Diocese asks for modification

Maarguerite Ridgeway was a fervent Catholic until her faith was shaken when church sex abuse scandals came to light, particularly a decades-old trauma recounted by her daughter-in-law.

Now Ridgeway’s son wants to install a marker at his late mother’s gravesite in Wheaton bearing the inscription “She supported priest rapist victims.”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which owns Assumption Cemetery, has objected to what it calls the “explicit language” of the epitaph.
...
An attorney for the diocese in an Oct. 6 letter proposed removing the word “rapist” and substituting softer language, such as “She supported clergy sex abuse victims,” or “She supported victims of clergy sex abuse.”

The letter described the word rapist as “graphic, offensive and shocking to the senses.”

“This is not a subject that we at the Diocese of Joliet shy away from; it is a sad chapter in our history that we think about daily,” diocese attorney Maureen Harton said in the letter. “Our concern must be with the many people who visit Assumption Cemetery with the expectation that their quiet time with their loved ones will be peaceful, tranquil and free of stress and anxiety.”

continue at Chicago Tribune

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

LseTrib: Former La Crosse Catholic school administrator charged with child sex assault

A former La Crosse Catholic school administrator has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Marathon County.

Steven Smolek, 59, of La Crosse admitted that he had sexually assaulted the 16-year-old in January 2015 while living in Mosinee, Wis., according to the complaint filed April 6 in Marathon County Circuit Court.

Smolek served as assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of La Crosse from Aug. 26, 2015, until his resignation on Nov. 23, two days after he told La Crosse police investigators that he molested the teen.

Police did not find any victims in La Crosse.

“We have been informed by law enforcement that there is no connection between Mr. Smolek’s charges and his employment and conduct with the Diocese of La Crosse or its schools,” according to a statement from the Diocese. “During the time he was employed by the Diocese and after, no complaints were ever made to the Diocese about any of his actions as a Diocesan employee.”

In July, a social networking app called Skout reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an adult male engaged in sexually explicit conversations with a user who identified himself as a 12-year-old boy, according to La Crosse police reports.

continue at La Crosse Tribune