Milwaukee Catholic priest faces excommunication after apostatizing

A Milwaukee-area Catholic priest sanctioned this year for indirectly violating the seal of the confessional now faces excommunication after launching a new parish with a breakaway diocese a few miles away.

Father David Verhasselt, once a popular priest at St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Oconomowoc, was named pastor this month at the newly founded Holy Name of Jesus Evangelical Catholic Church in nearby Ashippun, taking at least some of his former parishioners with him.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Verhasselt will be given an opportunity to reverse his decision and would incur "immediate excommunication" if he does not.

Verhasselt has declined repeated requests to be interviewed. But the Chicago-based Evangelical Catholic Diocese of the Northwest said he withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church in accordance with canon law.

"For the record, the Roman Catholic Church cannot declare a former member of its body 'excommunicated' after the fact," it said in an email to the Journal Sentinel. "We are currently residing within the 21st century."

continue at JS (worth the read)

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Part of the prayer of formal excommunication(1569):

Our assurance, O Lord, is thy expressed word; and therefore, in boldness of the same, here I, in thy name, and at the commandment of this thy present congregation, cut off, seclude, and excommunicate from thy body, and from our society, N., as one person scandalous, proud, a contemner, and one member, for this present [time] altogether corrupted and pernicious to the body. And this his sin (albeit with sorrow of heart), by virtue of our ministry, we bind and pronounce the same to be bound in heaven and earth. We further give over into the hands and power of the devil the said N., to the destruction of his flesh, straitly charging all that profess the Lord Jesus, to whose knowledge this our sentence shall come, to repute and hold the said N. accursed, and unworthy of the familiar society of Christians: declaring unto all men, that such as hereafter before his repentance shall haunt or familiarly accompany with him, are partakers of his impiety, and subject to the like condemnation. This our sentence, O Lord Jesus, pronounced in thy name, and at thy commandment, we humbly desire thee to ratify according to thy promise. And yet, Lord, thou that camest to save that which was lost, look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy, if thy good pleasure be; and so pierce thou his heart that he may feel in his breast the terrors of thy judgments, that by thy grace he fruitfully may be converted to thee; and so damning his own impiety, he may be with like solemnity received within the bosom of thy church, from the which this day (with grief and dolour of our hearts) he is ejected.

 Prayers.

Listecki: Priest found guilty of violation of seal of confession

The priest at St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church has been found guilty of indirectly violating the seal of confession and will spend the next year in prayer and penance, according to church officials.

The Rev. David A. Verhasselt, 64, has been on leave since April 2010. Last week Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki concluded Verhasselt was guilty of an indirect violation of the seal of confession, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

An indirect violation is one in which a specific person's sin, but not necessarily identity, is revealed by the priest, according to the statement.

Verhasselt is now required to spend a year in prayer and penance, during which time he will receive continuing formation in the theology of the sacrament of penance, the statement said.

The announcement was made before a packed church Sunday before Mass. The punishment was decided by the Most Rev. Jerome Listecki, archbishop of Milwaukee. Listecki spoke with parishioners after Mass.

In a March 17 letter to parishioners, Listecki said he came to the decision after an independent investigation.

Listecki acknowledged the process was lengthy.

"Although the process took longer than anyone would have liked, it was necessary to ensure a thorough and just outcome.

"I cannot communicate strongly enough how seriously we take the obligation to maintain the seal of confession," said Listecki. "When a penitent approaches a priest for the sacrament of penance and confesses his or her sins, a sacred trust is established. For the sake of the integrity of the sacrament, what is confessed must be held in strictest confidence."

In an interview with Lake Country Publications last year, Verhasselt said he was confident that he would be absolved of any wrong doing.

"Since I didn't do anything, I can't imagine it turning out any other way," he explained.

Verhasselt was unavailable for comment before press time.

Living Lake County

Strange, this is the most detail I've seen on this story so far.  The good news is that it doesn't sound like the identity of the person was ever revealed.  Ah, I see MilCatHerald has a story as well.