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	Records Recount Moves of Wis. Priest with History of Abuse Associated Press, carried in Pioneer Press February 11, 2007 http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/breaking_news/16673387.htm Milwaukee - Long before his transfer to California, leaders of the Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archdiocese knew of a priest's sexual abuse of young boys, yet they advised church officials there he would be "no great risk" doing pastoral work, according to court documents. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said in a story on its Web site Saturday night that the disclosures are in court records it obtained from Jeff Anderson, a Minneapolis lawyer who has represented victims of abuse by members of the clergy in Wisconsin, California and other states. The case of Siegfried Widera, who committed suicide while being chased by authorities four years ago, is important to Wisconsin Catholics because it could only be pursued in California. Under Wisconsin law, the church cannot be held responsible for actions of priests, but the law is being challenged, and a victory on the part of victims could open the church to legal action here as well. Last fall, the Milwaukee Archdiocese agreed to pay $16.65 million to 10 Widera victims in California. "In Wisconsin, we have never been able to see these records because it is the only state in the country that gives the church ironclad protection," Anderson said. "Civil lawsuits ... are the only mechanism we have to make these horrible secrets known." Last week, Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman of Los Angeles ordered the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to make public 3,000 pages of insurance records and hundreds of pages from the secret disciplinary files of Widera. The records are to be released within 30 days. In a news release Friday, Kathleen Hohl, spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, said the church had "acknowledged that its previous policies to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse of children did not sufficiently hold offenders responsible for their actions or protect children." But the church has tried to prevent release of the documents as the Wisconsin law has been upheld twice by the state Supreme Court. In April, the high court will hear a challenge from Wisconsin victims of Widera who are represenated by Anderson. Lichtman, the California judge, wrote that Widera's files prove that "priests with known sexual proclivities have been handed off from location to another without regard to the potential harm to the children of the Church." Among other information in the documents: _ Six years after his ordination, Widera was arrested in Port Washington for sexual contact with an 11-year-old boy. He admitted the crime and similar conduct with several other boys but was convicted in 1973 of just one count of sexual perversion. He was given three years' probation and ordered to stay out of Ozaukee County. A police report quotes an officer who interviewed Widera as saying, "For him this stuff was like saying 'I breathe air' or 'I eat food.' He felt that these acts of molesting young boys were normal and natural." _ After the arrest, Widera began seeing a church-employed therapist and wound up being assigned to a Delavan parish where he was an immediate success. _ In June 1976, the archdiocese learned of new abuse accusations by an Elkhorn therapist who was treating a boy. The therapist, assured Widera would get inpatient treatment, persuaded the boy's mother not to go to police. _ A letter to the Catholic bishop in California's Orange County asked that Widera be given a temporary assignment and stated he "has done good work." The letter from then-Bishop William Cousins acknowledged there had been a "moral problem" earlier involving a boy and a "repetition" more recently, but he wrote, "From all of the professional information I can gather there would seem to be no great risk in allowing this man to return to pastoral work, but there are legal complications at present." Records show Widera, transferred in 1981, moved frequently from parish to parish until California authorities in 2002 issued 33 felony sex abuse charges against him. In 2002 and 2003, Wisconsin authorities issued 11 felony charges against Widera in two counties on accusations dating to the 1970s. Widera went on the run. Cornered at a hotel resort in Mexico, he jumped from a balcony to his death on May 27, 2003.
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