Milwaukee bankruptcy filing masks the truth

Sister Maureen, thanks always for tellin' it like it is!

Honest to Pete, I think these hierarchs must live in their own hermetically sealed little world.

All the more reason, I think, why the Church of Rome needs to balance its ordained ministries with female ordinands.

God bless you in your work.

Instead of attacking Bishop Listecki's attempts to bring this horrendous chapter in the Church to a close, perhaps Sister Maureen Paul place the blame where it rightfully belongs: on the priest who were abusers and the bishops who directly or indirectly enabled them to continue. Of course, Bishop Richard Sklba and his former ordinary Archbishop Rembert Weakland have always been considered to be in the "progressive camp" of the Church which Sister Maureen Paul tends to support. Perhaps this is why she prefers to criticize Archbishop Listecki instead.

The bishop evidently compared the response to the sexual abuse crisis to a "baptism". This invidious comparison puts a major question mark on anything he might say and does not omen well for de facto actions.

"This is true as far as it goes, but it is hardly enough to address what many experts have described as the most significant crisis in the Roman Catholic Church’s over-2,000 year history, possibly even eclipsing the Reformation."

Unfounded hyperbole.

The sexual abuse crisis is sickening, and is a disaster for the Church, but there has thus far been zero indication that this scandal will have ramifications as far ranging and long lasting as the Reformation or the Great Schism.

Those dirty dogs!

The heirachy of the Catholic CHurch caused much of this problem because of their choice to protect the priests rather than the childrem. They caused great harm to a number of children. They have a moral responsibility to correct this wrong and to pay for the help and counseling their victims need and want. The Church is morally culpable. In trying to avoid paying their just debts they are continuing their self distructive reasoning. If they cannot put the injured first, they are incapable of leading. They have lost their moral compass. They are losing their members, they have lost their crdibility, without members their is no Church, without credibility their is no Church. They faithful are not lemmings.

I applaud your willingness to stand and be counted as a defender of g-d's 'little ones'. Continue to be valiant. As for me I watch events from afar and don't attend mass. I am currently of the opinion that the grand spin-meister a.k.a. the senior citizen called 'holiness', believes that they'll ride this one out! Best case for Ratzinger is he drops dead and takes his 'files' with him. Twenty three years of very unholy stuff in the office of the inquisition a.k.a. CDF. Thing is nothing much has changed, they continue to canvas for suitable candidates for an all male priesthood that requires that they be divorced from their own sexuality.I worked in a 'catholic' treatment center in Canada a number of years ago and often reflect on the experience. The clinical director once commented in a meeting that it would be better if the whole thing (catholic church)collapsed.I've come to the place where I agree. Another 'prime' therapist who'd been a psychotherapist for priests and religious who were depressed, anxious, alcoholic,suffering from 'ego-dystonic homosexuality' etc: said simply at lunch one day: "sex is just sex". Fine

Thank you sister Turlish for continuing to hold the hierarchy accountable.     Your comments are an excellent counter-balance to John Allen's sanitized interview/apologetic with Cardinal George,   and the latter's continued defensive insistence that these bishops must move on "teaching" and "punishing" as if nothing really happened...   with the unspoken subtext being their continuing efforts to avoid the consequences of their own sins,   malfeasance and crimes of complicity.
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May I add to your scriptural quotes the words of Ezekiel whose prophet voice continues to be relevant:

Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,   "Son of man,   prophesy against the shepherds of Israel...   ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,   Woe,   shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves!   … You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool,   you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.     Those who are sickly you have not strengthened,   the diseased you have not healed,   the broken you have not bound up,   the scattered you have not brought back,   nor have you sought for the lost;   but with force and with severity you have dominated them.     They were scattered for lack of a shepherd,   and they became food for every beast of the field.'"
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Therefore,   you shepherds,   hear the word of the LORD:   "As I live,   …because My flock has become a prey,   My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd,   and My shepherds did not search for My flock,   but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;   'Thus says the Lord GOD,   Behold,   I am against the shepherds,   and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep.     So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore,   but I will deliver My flock from their mouths,   so that they will not be food for them.’"
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For thus says the Lord GOD,   "Behold,   I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.     As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep,   so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day”.

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Amen.
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Dear Sister Maureen Paul Turlish - God will bless you. Why doesn't the church "get it." I was in a Spitituality group last year for 20 week. There were about 15 amazing Catholics in the group. Not one of us had a child that was still practicing his/her faith. Most of us are now at a church with a woman priest. It is wonderful. Take care and thank you. Kitty Maxwell

When will they (bishops) ever learn. How sad and pathetic.
One good thing coming from all of this is the realization on the part of many that the hierarchy are indeed NOT the church...... we are.
Having finally convinced people of their moral bankruptcy, the hierarchy have forced the people to take responsibility for their own moral decisions... even including leaving a church that has lost all moral leadership from the pope on down.

This sentence from the article says exactly the opposite of what obviously is meant.

"This evil emanated not only from the sexual violations of innocent children by predatory priests, but also from the failures of enabling bishops to protect them."

"Them" obviously means "innocent children." However, "predatory priests" is the immediate antecedent, so the sentence actually reads as though it was predatory priests whom the bishops failed to protect.

There's an easy fix, change "protect them" to "protect the children."

Note: I don't mean to be a grammatical nit-picker and this item is not intended for publication. Rather, it's just to point out a miscue that you might want to fix, since this sentence encapsulates the theme of the entire article.

The message of Jesus is simple truth. If He'd been here temporally, he'd have taken the whip to the merchants in the Temples of Rome and the major Dioceses
of the World. The men of the Roman Catholic Church who abused and enabled
abusers to thrive spit in God's face and laughed at Him and His Church.

All these silly little rules they make about going to hell for eating meat
on Fridays while they were raping children!!!!!

AND, the civilian law enforcement who also enabled them to rape and abuse
innocents should be condemned too.

A sad sad end to the Church.

Thanks so much Sister Maureen Paul. Thanks. What you say is astounding; this could be a greater crisis than the Reformation. How long will it take for our hierarchical church to change? Centuries? And what happens in the mean-time? A withering away of our church, which is happening now, witness the number of Catholics who have left. Our bishops seem to be saying good-bye to anyone with an education, good-bye to anyone who thinks on their own. Do our bishops dare to think of the future? Do they dare criticize each other? What a sign of health it would be if some of them had the courage say, to criticize the strange canon-lawyer bishop in Arizona.

How about we let the proceedings take their course? Jesus also asks us to respect others' reputations and show un-conditional love and practice the justice of the Beatitudes. Suggesting that the archbishop of Milwaukee or any bishop is trying to save face or further hurt victims is beyond the pale for any commentator who does not seem to have all the facts in her role and from her experience. It is unworrthy to compare this current crisis to the Reformation, or the split of the Church in the Orthodox schism, the French Revolution or the many other sins, failings, attacks and challenges to the Church since Jesus was sold by His spostle and abandoned by Peter and all but one of the Apostles at the Cross. Knowing history well, keeping things in perspective- including the actual facts regarding the 50-year review of the clergy sexual scandal in the US are key also. Allowing for lies, grandstanding and exaggerations, by and about the players, (media, lawyers, prosecutors, and genuine and fake victims, and their advocates, and bishops) are all part of the whole story which has not yet unfolded. For the true believer "where sin abounds, grace did more abound" is a good added antidote to commentators and their readers and viewers and listeners.

We just keep throwing stones at each other, don't we?

The bishops should thank God everyday that the abuse is associated with boys. If they were girls, the Church would already be out of business.

When Pope John was questioned about raising the pay of Vatican workers lest the mission of the church suffer, he said, "Justice comes before charity. And Paul VI said "Justice is Love's minimum."

Pass the millstones.

Why hasn't NCR published the report that over half of the allegations in L.A. have been found to be false? Perhaps it's the same in Milwaukee?

Is Jeff Anderson involved in any of the lawsuits in Milwaukee?

If so, they're all about money, money, money, the majority of which will go to he and his defense attorney buddies.

Yes. Essentially we are required to nurture the children. Just as we observe, a child cannot grow into a human without a human showing the way, much like a bear cannot be a bear without a mother who teaches the bear "act". Child care is just job number one, for without human children, the future is bleak.

Even so, our clerical leaders have a tough row to hoe. Isn't the real problem that the Church we love has been birthed with the idea of a growing and expanding group of God's created people. We need Priests, Sisters, Brothers, churches, schools, and hospitals. Indeed, because the number of "our people" has, since 1776 been expanding. But now the model has changed. Now Christianity is fast becoming a minority opinion in the US population. It is not the "God is Dead", but that God is not mentioned. So, those schools, those hospitals, those sanctuaries are not really needed any more. It is now a time to contract. Do we even have a model for that? Why do we think we can do that graciously, without huge mistakes? it is important to always remember our heritage and history: Generally, we humans mess up. Fortunately our Father is still within us, and we frequently get away with that. Our hope is that Grace abounds, in spite of us. I think we can count on that.

Clearly, during the last decades the lawyers have taken most of the settlements. Clearly, there are some cases where the case of abuse is poorly proved. Clearly, by any measure, the overwhelming majority of our Priests and Nuns have been as good as their word, faithful servants of our precious Lord. We do need to honor our abused children. Would it not be far better to nurture them, say be providing "free" access to one of our outstanding colleges, and making sure they witness the faithful shepherds that abound in the Church. There should be things possible that heal in ways that the money that is needed to continue is not sucked from the treasury. We did not get paid to abuse them, and the hurt is not going to be taken away with money. There needs to be a way out of this puzzle, one that still needs to be found.

Peace, and Joy.

Thanks for putting my thoughts in writing.

"Is Archbishop Listecki encouraging Sklba to go ahead with his deposition in the interests of truth and justice or isn’t he"?

What is even more critical, is did the judge refuse to seal the auxiliary bishop's testimony and order him to give evidence? If so, it definitely raises a serious question with regard to the archbishop's timing for declaring the Milwaukee his archdiocese bankrupt.

Further questions come to mind. Does declaring bankruptcy automatically silence a deposition from the auxiliary bishop? Is the auxiliary bishop prepared to defy a court order in order to obey his archbishop, or authorities in Rome? With so many prelates believing they speak only to God and are responsible to Him alone, and are exempt from the civil laws of the United States, one has to wonder.

In order to safeguard the archdiocese's assets, was archbishop Listecki instructed to declare bankruptcy by any official of the Holy See communicated through the apostolic delegate in Washington? The diplomatic immunity of the Holy See is a wonderful device for protecting evidence and testimony, and a tempting safe haven for continuing papal skullduggery to protect the Church's patrimony at any price.

Let's hope archbishop Listecki isn't sharing the services of the same law firm archbishop Leonard in Brussels seems to have had in advising him on what to say in his testimony.

Sister, What new is being said here that hasn't been said a bazillion times before in the NCR? I mean you could write a computer program that would spit out better written and more incisive editorials.

Examples, one from Column A, one from Column B:

"true as far as it goes"
"hardly enough to address"
"most significant crisis"
"eclipsing the Reformation"
"evil emanated not only"
"from the failures"
"of bishops"
"accountability and transparency"
"truth and justice"
"keeping secrets"
"avoiding episcopal responsibility"
"hierarchy...blind"
"far too many secrets"
"complicit members of the hierarchy"

In fact, that lack of deeper thinking and writing on this - while re-hashing the above - is actually causing its own problems, an unhealthy stasis.

Add, don't re-hash.

Please read the letter below written by a Milwaukee Archdiocesan priest and published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.
He is holding the diocese accountable for releasing all information despite filing for bankruptcy. It is a courageous stand.
Church has moral obligation to reveal truth in sex abuse scandal

By The Rev. James Connell
Jan. 6, 2011

Every act of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest is a crime, both in civil law and in Catholic Church law. Indeed, from teenage years onward, people know that sexual activity between an adult and a minor is both legally and morally wrong. So, in discussing sexual abuse of minors by priests, we are not talking about the actions of a schoolyard bully. We are talking about the actions of a criminal.
Certainly, the church is well-positioned nowadays to respond to allegations of sexual abuse by priests as a crime and has been so for many years. Yet the issue at hand is not about current protocols. It's about the response of the church in the early years of the priests' sexual abuse crisis and how the response in those years continues to impact life today for some victims/survivors, as well as for the entire church community and for civil society.
What was the mind-set of church leaders in those early years? The answer is not clear. But some people hold that from the beginning the church accented: 1) the preservation of the church's image; 2) the protection of the reputation of persons; and 3) the security of assets. Of course, without having access to the records and files, who can say for sure?
This apparent lack of dealing with allegations as crimes in the early years has caused people to ask whether subsequent cases of priest sexual abuse of a minor could have been prevented. In other words, did overlooking the reality of the crime actually contribute to further, yet avoidable, acts of sexual abuse by priests? The speculation is that a failure to treat each allegation as a reported crime, rather than simply a matter of a priest needing treatment, made it easier to shift known abuser priests to assignments where there was access to children.
I am the pastor of two Catholic parishes in Sheboygan. Both parishes have been served by priests whose names are on the Archdiocesan list of diocesan priests restricted due to substantiated reports of sexual abuse of a minor. Hence, some of my parishioners are familiar in matters of sexual abuse by priests.
One of my parishioners recently said to me, within the context of a lid being on the availability of information and people not knowing why: Father Jim, how much worse can the actual truth be, compared to what our imaginations have already led us to think?
For years, litigation has been the vehicle to help get information, albeit a piecemeal approach. But now, as the legal proceedings move into bankruptcy court, the hope for civil legal processes to furnish desired information possibly evaporates. However, the moral responsibility for the Catholic Church to provide information does not go away.
Indeed, included in the responsibility to do justice is the responsibility to provide the means for healing. To help understand my point, think about this. If sexual abuse by a priest is not part of your personal experience, imagine for a moment that it actually is a tragic part of your history and that you continue to seek healing and peace. Then, here is the question: To further the cause of that healing and peace, would you want to know the entire truth about what happened? Or would you be content with the fruits of your speculation and imagination, along with whatever piecemeal information becomes available?
The Catholic Church, it seems to me, has the moral responsibility to facilitate healing and that includes revealing the truth. It's a matter of justice and, thus, is a moral obligation.

The Rev. James Connell is pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish and St. Clement Parish in Sheboygan and is vice chancellor of the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese.

Wow! The name Rembert Weakland never makes into the essay; just "hierarchy". Incredible.

Sr. Maureen you have hit the nail on the head. This bishop as well as the bishop in the Belleville, IL Diocese just to name two of them are doing everything they possibly can to obstruct justice. No wonder there are so few practicing Catholics anymore. Who can accept these men as the successors of the apostles? They are guilty of continuous criminal enterprise and their actions make the average person cringe.

How about predatory nuns Maureen? Why are they NEVER part of your equation? Why do you avoid that issue like the plague? Where is your heart? Where is your judgment? Where is your common sense?

We have plenty of people available to go after the bishops. We have virtually no one who is willing to go after the Leadership Conference of Women Religious who are just as evil and just as bad as the bishops in hiding predatory nuns from public view.

I was abused mostly by nuns, not priests. Who will speak for people like me? Obviously not you.

I tire of your type of idealism. It is simply too convenient.

Sister Maureen is absolutely right. Bishop are simply UNWILLING TO LEARN !!! And they are responsible for the credibility crisis among all of us...

PAX. Aristophilos

In this column, Archbishop Listecki and Sister Maureen Turlish do not acknowledge that 90% of minor age children who were sexually abused never make an allegation. This statistic was reported on the Diocese of Rockville Centre's website.

Thus we do not know the names and faces of the vast majority of victims. However, just because these victims choose to remain anonymous, it does not mean that the Church cannot help them.

If each and every priest who was involved in the cover-up comes forward and tells all he knows, just think of the positive impact it would have on these victims. The call for release of all information is not a vendetta against the church and its priests, but a sincere effort to bring comfort to the thousands of children who have been abused, most of whom are unknown to us.

A ten year old child who was abused fifty years ago is now sixty years old and silently carries the pain of that abuse every living day.

I agree with Sister Maureen for the most part, and those who have been abused should get all the help that they need, even if it meant mortgaging church buildings or selling them. But the issue of punitive compensation gets mixed in here. It isn't the real perpetrators and enablers who get punished if large financial awards are made this way--unless the courts seizes the croziers and melt down the bishops' pectoral crosses (which isn't a bad idea). Instead, parishioners who have made contributions for church causes can end up seeing their contributions go this way. And one has to ask, Is that fair, if these parishioners are also innocents?

If such consideration forces diocese to open their accounting books and let parishioners know what happens to their monies overall, this could be a positive development too, and at least a century overdue.

"except for the inadequacies of statutes of limitation across the U.S. Most perpetrators and enablers have escaped criminal prosecution because of this, and access to justice in civil courts is being thwarted by bishops and Catholic Conferences in state after state."
Where is the "justice" in having to close my home parish's elementary school - and 7 or 8 others in my hometown of Wilmington, DE - where veteran teachers are out of work, kids are crammed into over-sized classes in combined schools or into failing public schools - all to satisfy multi-million dollar lawsuits leveled against parishes (not "perpetrators or their enablers") in my home town where the statute of limitations has been repealed? You don't know what you are asking for. Good people in good parishes are becoming the victims of revenge gone wrong. There is no restorative justice here. There is just payback - against innocent parishioners who no longer have any Catholic schools to send their children to and who are quickly losing their houses of worship. Real justice would have gone after the people responsible.

You fail to mention the sexual abuse of children by women religious and the superiors who failed to protect them. You agree that their religious orders should publish the names, submit to lawsuits, and sell off their property to pay victims, don't you? Don't you? You're not excusing their sins against the Holy Spirit, are you, Sister?

What a surprise! Maureen criticizes the efforts of the Bishops to address the problem. One gets the impression there is nothing that would please Maureen except maybe becoming a bishop herself. The songs we sing depend on the choir we belong to, I guess. Some people have needs even God can't satisfy.

As a former catholic religious and priest of a religious order for 21 years during the heyday of a wonderful catholic revival, I would have welcomed an uncomplicated statement by superiors and bishops when I entered religious life regarding civil laws that priests might be tempted to violate...especially pederasty.

So why not inform those who enter religion and the priesthood that if it comes to pass that they are accused of such behavior, such accusations will be handled in an externl forum with attorneys etc. and address the issue by accepting the validity of positive law instead of the "fine finessing" of canon law that could always find an excuse "to save that vocation" because persons in religion or the priesthood were always aware that they could be protected/sheltered by the "internal forum" of the church (canon law) and the superiors of the priest would take care of matters internally.

I think it would have have motivated recidivist religious and priests to change their behaviour more than any of the other methods of turning them over to psychiatric/psychological treatment modalities....

It might also have had the result of helping younger religious feel they had some serious support when they brought their superiors attention to such behavior on the part of older religious and priests who were molesting them.

John Denton
San Francisco

Listecki is a disgrace, period.

Under his self-serving leadership, the archdiocese violates canon law and CDF guidelines for evaluating sexual abuse allegations. He arbitrarily sets a different and much higher standard for continuing investigations. So spare me his concerns for helping victims and learning the truth.

Here are the correct standards:

1) the CDF’s own guidelines state: “If the allegation has a semblance of truth the case is to be referred to the CDF.” http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_guide-CDF-procedures_en.html, section A. In other words, the case proceeds based on a semblance of truth standard.

2) canon law specifies the case continues if it “at least seems true.” Canon 1717 para 1 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6V.HTM

Furthermore, the Dallas Charter and Norms stipulate that their terms are to be in accord with universal and particular US church law, which is exactly what the “semblance of truth” standard is, similar in civil law to probable cause.

Tell me then how Listecki can violate that standard and get away with it. He adopts "moral certitude," which is the canonical equivalent of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for pursuing cases further. That's how 60 to 64% of allegations in Listecki's bailiwick get rejected versus 10 to 11% nationally.

Keep the secrets is his standard operating procedure, as Maureen so clearly shows. Disgusting.

For the facts on bankruptcy, see Richard Sipe's analysis and examples of last minute filings to avoid trials and forced disclosures of documents: http://www.richardsipe.com/Dialogue/Dialogue-11-2007-06-12.html#Top

Bishop Skystad of Spokane filed for bankruptcy as President of the Bishops Conference one day before he was required to testify. Cardinal Leveda filed for bankruptcy in the Portland Diocese when he was bishop there shortly before he was required to testify. Now he has a high ranking job in the Vatican overseeing the clerical abuse. Now that Archbishop Dolan is President of the US Bishop's Conference and would have been required to testify, he has ordered the Milwaukee Diocese to file for bankruptcy. The pattern should be obvious as the culpability of the hierarchy in the church who did the following: 1) sheltered and transfered pedophiles intentionally decieving parents; law enforcement; and the laity in unsuspecting diocese that sacrifice additional victims needlessly for protect Church vainity and pride 2) ignored all victims in their pleas for healing and denying them needed counseling and church support 3) countersued victims whenever possible 4) paid out billions to lawyers on both sides, funds that could have been used to feed the poor 5) starved hundrend of thousands of poor children who were denied necessities of life because billions were spent on lawyers protecting the secrets of the church 6) made all victims sign gag orders in secret court settlements 7) refused to cooperate with law enforcement at all times whether by reporting the initial crimes to refusing to testify in courts of law 7) destroying records or transfering evidence to the Vatican to avoid presenting legal documents into a court of law 8) refused to give a list of the criminally offending priests to the public 9) spending millions on PR campaigns intent to further decieve the laity who are funding this travesty 10) taking remaining church funds and spending it on themselves in lavish and opulent clothing; needless travel; mansions, etc. as well as paintings of themselves and diocese newspapers dedicated week after week to pagentry of various Bishop's events, ignoring any real news of other events within the church that would focus on the sufferings of the church. I know I have left out a lot, but this list is just the beginning of laity finally becoming aware. If the Roman Catholic Church had no Bishops; Archbishops or Cardinals; a heirarchy that didn't exist for the first 4 centuries of Christianity, I think Jesus would be able to continue the Jesus movement just fine. Judaism has survived 2000 years without a priesthood which ceased to exist with the destruction of the temple. I am willing to bet Jesus would be just fine if there were no hinderances to His Divine Plan to love the world.

Superb, Sister!
Now, why are we not overturning this ridiculously archaic leadership in the Church?
If not now, when???

The good sister tells it like it is.

The greatest good would be served by ending the ceaseless re-hashing of largely very old problems. Exacting huge cash settlements from the Church (really innocent parishioners!) serves no good interest and unjustly enriches avracious attorneys! Publishing for public review purient details of ghastly transgressions by a handful of sick Priests does nobody any good.
Lets move on and strength the Church in numbers, in stewardship, and in charity.