Ten Years after Resigning in Disgrace, Archdiocese Still Fighting to Keep Weakland's Secrets

SNAP Wisconsin
May 23, 2012

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Ten years after resigning in disgrace, Archdiocese still fighting to keep Weakland's secrets

Thursday marks a decade since the former Archbishop's half a million dollar hush money payout was revealed, catapulting the Milwaukee Archdiocese into a decade of crisis

Federal Judge Kelley now indicating she is ready to release to the public key portions of Weakland's recent testimony

But new motion in federal bankruptcy court by church lawyers seeks again to keep testimony sealed

Testimony likely includes never before known details of Weakland's 1998 meetings with Vatican officials and Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, about abusive priests, including serial predator of deaf children, Fr. Lawrence Murphy

Victims, in marking anniversary, will renew efforts to rename the Cathedral's "Weakland Center" and remove the "Weakland Shrine" from the Cathedral altar

WHO

Victim/survivors of childhood sexual violence by clergy of the Milwaukee archdiocese, including leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org/SNAPwisconsin.com) will hold a sidewalk press conference in front of the "Archbishop Weakland Center" of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist marking the tenth anniversary of Weakland's resignation and discuss:

–progress and setbacks made in resolving the sex abuse crisis for victims and the church over the past decade;

–recent developments in the archdiocesan bankruptcy, including new efforts by the current Milwaukee Archbishop, Jerome Listecki, to keep Weakland's recent testimony from public release, including what are likely the first questions posed under oath of meetings between Weakland and high level Vatican officials, including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI about sex abuse cases in Milwaukee;

–this week's landmark decision by an Appleton jury to rule a Wisconsin diocese committed fraud in concealing sex offender clerics and what that decision might mean for the 570 victim/survivors who have filed claims; and

–once again call on Archbishop Jerome Listecki to change the name of the Cathedral's central complex which is designated in honor of Weakland, as well as remove a large bronze relief, commissioned by Weakland, which depicts him as shepherd and protector of children and serves as a pedestal for one of the altar's inside the Cathedral church.

WHEN

Thursday, May 24, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE

831 N. Van Buren Street, in front of the sign for the "Archbishop Weakland Center" located on the East side of the St. John the Evangelist Cathedral Complex

WHAT

Thursday, May 24th marks the tenth anniversary of the resignation of former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland. The previous day it had been revealed by an ABC news investigation that Weakland had taken nearly a half a million dollars of church funds for a hush money payout to a man who says Weakland sexually abused him while attending Marquette University. Weakland denied the abuse.

Weakland's resignation was the beginning of a decade of crisis for Milwaukee Catholics, which shows no signs of abating, and has led to the largest church bankruptcy filing in history. The bankruptcy, now a year and a half old, has been fueled by a series of continual and damaging disclosures from tens of thousands of pages of secret church files, court depositions by top Catholic officials and the testimony of hundreds of victims of child sex assault. Even though a large portion of the evidence still remains secret, it has now been incontrovertibly proven that Weakland, along with his auxiliary bishop Richard Sklba, orchestrated and engineered a twenty five year cover up of child sex crimes, rivaling the scope and severity of criminal conduct and cover up in such documented centers of the global sex abuse crisis, as Boson, Philadelphia, Dublin and the Netherlands.

Among the dozens of clergy that Weakland and Sklba knew were child predators and who remained active in ministerial duties was Fr. Lawrence Murphy. According to a secret church investigation and church trial authorized by Weakland, church officials concluded that Murphy had sexually assaulted at least 200 deaf children at St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis. In 1998, it was Murphy's case which Weakland brought personally, along with Sklba, to the Vatican and the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. During that trip, according to Weakland, he and Sklba presented the detailed results of their investigation of Murphy to Ratzinger's chief deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Weakland has also said that during this time he personally discussed the sex abuse crisis with Ratzinger himself. The details of Murphy's case and Ratzinger's involvement were revealed in a New York Times 2010 investigation that brought the sex abuse crisis to the doorsteps of the Pope and resulted in an explosion of revelations of cover up of child sex crimes by top church officials throughout Europe and dioceses around the globe.

Weakland has never disclosed the details of his secret conversations with senior Vatican officials, including the current Pope concerning Murphy and other abusive priests. It is likely however that Weakland has finally been forced to do so under oath for the first time in a recent deposition taken in Federal Bankruptcy Court several months ago. While it initially appeared that this deposition would remain sealed it has now been indicated by Judge Susan Kelley that the most significant features of Weakland's testimony and other documents concerning several key cases, including Murphy's, can be made public after the redaction of victim names and identities.

The archdiocese, under the direction of Archbishop Jerome Listecki, in anticipating the release of Weakland's potentially explosive testimony, is again attempting to block the release through novel legal tactics that have become the standard practice and strategy to prevent victim/survivors, Catholics, and the public from learning the truth about child sex crimes in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Victims will urge Listecki to withdrawal his recent motion which seeks to continue to protect Weakland's shameful legacy. Victim/survivors will also renew their efforts to have the honors which have been bestowed on Weakland removed and replaced with appropriate representations of Catholics who have honorably served the archdiocese. Among the honors victims would like to see rescinded are the naming of the cathedral complex after Weakland, and the replacement of a bronze relief beneath one of the altars in the cathedral depicting Weakland as the protector of children.

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