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	Rembert Weakland Deposition Tape Released WISN November 12, 2008 http://www.wisn.com/news/17967144/detail.html [with video] Rembert Weakland, Priest Abuse Scandal Deposition Tapes Released Archbishop Rembert Weakland resigned in 2002 and has never publicly addressed the priest abuse scandal this directly. But in a videotaped deposition, Weakland answered questions about what he knew, why parishes weren’t told about abusive priests and what he told the current archbishop about it. After 25 years as the leader of Milwaukee's Catholic Community, Weakland retired six years ago amid a sex scandal of his own. In a deposition videotaped in June, Weakland explained that when reassigning a priest he suspected of abuse he didn't notify the parishes where the offenders were being sent, in part because he knew they wouldn't have taken him. "No parish would've accepted a priest unless you could say that he has gone through the kind of psychological examination and that he's not a risk to the parish," Weakland said. Weakland said conventional wisdom was to monitor the priests and hope they didn't re-offend. The advocacy group for clergy abuse victims - SNAP - said perhaps the most stunning revelation may be Weakland's claim that Archbishop Dolan has never talked to him about the issue. "Archbishop Dolan's role was to come here, to resolve this crisis, to deal with this issue. And the fact that the two of them, Archbishop Dolan and Archbishop Weakland have not talked about this is shocking, amazing. I can't even comprehend that," clergy abuse survivor Mary Guentner said. Dolan is out of town but his chief of staff said such a conversation wasn't necessary because the abusive priests had been removed from ministry. "When he arrived, we had already as a diocese made sure that any priest with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor had been removed from ministry... no longer could serve as a priest. That's the policy that was established in 2002, that's the policy that remains in place today," Archdiocese Chief of Staff Jerry Topczewski said. Weakland said he never asked specific priests directly if they were sexually abusing children, even when he had suspicions. He said he didn’t think he had the right to pose a question that way. The deposition is part of nine separate civil suits against the archdiocese, involving four priests. Barring settlements, they are expected to be heard next summer.
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