By George Pawlaczyk
Belleville News-Democrat
June 19, 2011
http://www.bnd.com/2011/06/19/1754292/did-court-threaten-religious-liberty.html
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BELLEVILLE -- Attorneys for the Catholic Diocese of Belleville contend that if a jury verdict awarding $5 million to a former altar boy sexually abused by a priest is allowed to stand, the religious liberty of Illinois citizens could be undermined.
But Belleville attorney Mike Weilmuenster, who represents the former altar boy, James Wisniewski of Champaign, said the diocese's second attempt to get the Illinois Supreme Court to agree to consider an appeal of the St. Clair County verdict has nothing to do with religious freedom.
Weilmuenster said Bishop Edward Braxton's recent letter to parishioners that their religious freedom could be eroded if the judgment stands is "propaganda."
Braxton, who does not comment to local reporters, could not be reached. He was not the bishop in Belleville when the Rev. Raymond Kownacki, in the 1970s, according to trial testimony, sexually abused a young girl and several boys, including Wisniewski.
The judgment that must be paid to Wisniewski, unless the verdict is reversed, totals about $6.3 million, with interest that accumulates at about $1,250 per day.
Wisniewski, 50, testified during the 2008 civil trial that he was sexually molested for years beginning about 1973 when he was 13 by Kownacki, then the priest at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem. Kownacki, 76, who has stated he will not comment, was removed from ministry because of allegations of sexual misconduct. He was named as a defendant in another sexual abuse lawsuit filed by Weilmuenster that resulted in a $1.2 million payment by the Belleville Diocese in 2009.
Testimony in the Wisniewski case stated that the diocese knew that Kownacki was dangerous but continued to transfer him to other parishes without warning parishioners.
In legal documents filed Wednesday with the Illinois Supreme Court, St. Louis attorney David Wells, who represents the diocese, argued that a 5th District Appellate Court ruling announced in January upholding the $5 million verdict "exposes the citizens of Illinois to gross violations of their religious liberty." He contends that the appellate court ruling improperly held the diocese to a higher standard than law allows simply because it is a religious organization.
In a 19-page petition, Wells stated that the verdict and appellate court ruling was based on an unconstitutional premise: that the diocese had a duty to protect and warn Wisniewski about Kownacki based solely on religious doctrine and belief.
"A court interpreting and applying religious doctrine violates both Illinois and federal guarantees of religious liberty," Wells' petition stated.
In a decision posted May 25, the Supreme Court denied without comment the diocese' petition to hear their appeal.
Wells states in the second petition to the Supreme Court that the religious liberty issue wasn't presented in great detail in the first petition because "the extent of the damage to religious liberty inflicted by the 5th District's decision -- may have been overlooked."
In a written statement to the Belleville News-Democrat, Weilmuenster stated: "This case has nothing to do with ... religious liberty." Weilmuenster has represented Wisniewski since his lawsuit was filed in 2002.
Weilmuenster wrote that the diocese owed a duty to protect Wisniewski because it had "facilitated and enabled a pedophile to violently abuse minors and went to great lengths to cover up and conceal its knowledge and its role in the abuse from Jim Wisniewski, and the public in general." This refers to the state's "fraudulent concealment" statute, which allows lawsuits to be brought after the statute of limitations has expired and, in special situations, holds the church responsible for abuse by its priests.
Weilmuenster provided a portion of the appeals court's ruling, which stated, "the issue is whether there was a special relationship between Wisniewski and the diocese for purposes of the fraudulent concealment statute, and the analysis of that issue does not involve any judicial analysis of religious doctrine."
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com or 239-2625.
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