Archbishop of Dublin Reaffirms Statement on Sex Abuse Crisis Made in Milwaukee on “60 Minutes” This Sunday

By John Pilmaier
SNAP Wisconsin
March 2, 2012

http://03409bc.netsolhost.com/snapwisconsin/2012/03/02/archbishop-of-dublin-reaffirms-statement-on-sex-abuse-crisis-made-in-milwaukee-on-60-minutes-this-sunday/

In a feature story appearing on the CBS news program “60 minutes” scheduled to air this Sunday, March 4th , the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin–the leading church reformer on the issue of clerical abuse and whose diocese is at the center of the worldwide scandal–will explain why he believes the child sexual assault crisis in the Catholic Church “isn’t over”.

Martin, who addressed an international conference on clergy sexual abuse in April at Marquette University will openly confront the publicly espoused views of many bishops, including Milwaukee’s Jerome Listecki, that it is time to “move on” from reports that thousands of children were raped and sexually assaulted while in the church’s care.

Listecki is currently at the center of the largest church bankruptcy resulting from sex abuse crimes of any organization in history. Last month, over 570 victims filed claims detailing at least 8,000 acts of criminal abuse spanning several decades by dozens of previously unnamed clerics. While most of the recorded crimes likely took place from the 1970’s into the 1990’s, most of these clerics have never faced justice, and their current status is unknown.

Martin was thrust onto the world stage amid revelations that thousands of Ireland’s children were sexually assaulted in parishes, schools, and residential institutions. In response to the crisis Martin voluntarily turned over to authorities over 70,000 secret church documents which formed the basis for the Murphy Report; released in 2009 it was the government of Ireland’s definitive report on the clerical child sex crimes committed in the archdiocese of Dublin.

Listecki, like Milwaukee’s bishops before him, have refused to freely turn over to law enforcement officials, all documents in possession by the Milwaukee archdiocese which detail the rape and sexual assault of hundreds of children, and the cover up of those crimes by diocesan officials, although the bankruptcy court is now in possession of tens of thousands of these explosive internal church files.

Last week, Wisconsin victims of clergy sex abuse and others called for an inquiry by the Wisconsin Attorney General into all files and all abuse reports.

Martin, in an address he gave after presentations by local victims, told an audience which included Listecki, that he was not forced, by threat of court subpoena, to turn over documents to the authorities; he explained his decision to release previously confidential church files to the Murphy Commission by stating, “the truth has a power to set us free which half-truths do not,” adding, “I still cannot accept that no one can take responsibility [and] the responsibility seems to be the fault of others or of the system”.

Milwaukee priests echoed Martin’s sentiments at the conference and those like Fr. James Connell, the vice-chancellor of the Milwaukee archdiocese, have joined with survivors in calling for a full institutional accounting of the clergy sex crimes in the archdiocese of Milwaukee and the full release of all files and depositions of Milwaukee church officials.

(A podcast featuring the remarks of Archbishop Martin, and SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely to participants of the “Harm, Hope and Healing” international conference on clergy sexual abuse can be found here. Martin’s address can be seen and heard at 01:18 in the podcast, his remarks can be read here.) and Isely’s remarks can be seen and heard at 17:00 of the podcast and read here. )

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our national website is SNAPnetwork.org.

CONTACT 414.336.8575