As Listecki Seeks to “atone” This Week, His Lawyers Will Fight Victims Next Week to Stop Release of Explosive New Testimony
SNAP Wisconsin
Victims will be asking Listecki before “Mass of Atonement” Thursday to “demonstrate genuine remorse” by dropping his opposition to unsealing depositions of Archbishop Weakland and Bishop Sklba next week Recent court hearings reveal that at least 8,000 acts of childhood sexual assault and abuse occurred in archdiocese, by at least 100 never before identified alleged offenders WHO Victims of clergy sexual abuse, displaying childhood photos and candles in a makeshift memorial, will discuss before attending a “Mass of Atonement” conducted by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki a court motion filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court to make public new videotaped court testimony of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba. Both Weakland and Sklba were deposed for their extensive involvement in the cover up of thousands of child sex crimes by dozens of clerics for several decades. The motion will be heard on Thursday, April 4th. Victims will be asking Listecki, as a concrete sign of “genuine remorse and change,” to instruct his lawyers to withdraw the archdiocese opposition to the release of the depositions. WHERE Outside of St. Francis Cabrini Parish, 1025 S. 7th Avenue, West Bend WHEN Thursday, March 29h, 6:30 p.m. Mass of Atonement will begin at 7:00 p.m. WHY At St. Francis Cabrini Parish in West Bend on Thursday March 29th Archbishop Jerome Listecki will preside at a Mass of Atonement, a liturgical service meant to acknowledge the harm done to victims and the church due to the child sex abuse crisis. The archdiocese is currently in Federal bankruptcy court seeking Chapter 11 protection due to child sex crimes, and the cover-up of those crimes by church officials. At least 570 victims have filed claims alleging rape, sexual assault or abuse by clergy and other employees of the archdiocese over approximately five decades. “Some victims will attend Thursday’s service, although many will not,” according to John Pilmaier, Wisconsin Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims support and advocacy group. “After urging victims to come forward and file claims, Listecki attempted last month to have 95% of those claims thrown out of court. The archdiocese said it didn’t matter if the abuse happened or not. So, it’s pretty unlikely that victims of clergy sexual assault would feel welcome at a Mass of Atonement presided over by a bishop who has fought so aggressively to keep them from obtaining some kind of justice.” Pilmaier was sexually assaulted as a seven year old by Fr. David Hanser at St. John Vianney Parish in Brookfield. According to victim’s attorneys representing 350 of the claimants, at least 8,000 individual acts of child sex abuse have occurred in the archdiocese committed by 100 alleged offenders not included on the church’s “official” 2004 list of 43 priests with credible reports of child sex abuse. Prior to Thursday’s service, victims will email Listecki and urge him to drop his opposition to a key motion filed by victim/survivors and endorsed by the Bankruptcy Creditors Committee, which seeks to release new court testimony taken late last year of the two Milwaukee bishops most implicated in the cover up, retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland and his chief deputy, Bishop Richard Sklba. The motion is scheduled to be argued on Thursday April 5th before Judge Susan V. Kelley. The depositions are likely to contain the first direct questioning under oath about the notorious Father Lawrence Murphy who for 25 years operated St. John’s School for the Deaf. Murphy’s case became an international story in 2010 when it was learned by the New York Times that then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, did not defrock Murphy or bring him to justice, even though Milwaukee church officials had determined that Murphy had sexually assaulted at least 200 disabled children. “Atonement, if it is genuine, means that you must first stop hurting victims right now and covering up right now–then you can deal with what you did in the past,” says Milwaukee SNAP Director Michael Sneesby. Sneesby, from Bay View, was sexually abused as a youngster by Fr. Fred Bistricky. “How can you be in church one day saying you are no longer keeping child sex crimes secret and then instruct your lawyers to go into court the next day and try to do just that?” During the past two weeks, at least one archdiocesan priest was removed from his parish for child sex abuse reports, two offenders released from the priesthood discovered in jobs working with children and families, and a pedophile cleric, over the objection of victims and others, was buried by the archdiocese in full priestly vestments. CONTACT Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director, 414.429.7259 John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director, 414.336.8575 Mike Sneesby, SNAP Milwaukee Director, 414.915.4374 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. Visit us at SNAPnetwork.org and SNAPwisconsin.com.
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