Archbishop Listecki’s Tragic Christmas Gift to Victims Today
By Peter Isely
Today, Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered in Federal Court a tragic “Christmas gift” to victims of childhood rape and sexual assault by clergy. The archdiocese attempted to have thrown out of bankruptcy court, in principle, nearly all of the 600 cases filed by victims/survivors. So far, fortunately, they have failed. Once again lawyers representing the archdiocese went before Judge Susan Kelley arguing that legal technicalities around the fraud statute should prevent victims/survivors from seeking restitution. It was unclear what was new in these arguments, Kelley having ruled in favor of victim’s use of the Wisconsin fraud statute earlier this year She declined to issue a ruling today on the major cases under review, instead ruling on two minor cases. She is expected to issue a further ruling at a later date. Two years ago, the archbishop made a public and solemn promise to “all” victims that he would personally guarantee restitution through the bankruptcy process. He did not say “some” victims or “a few” victims. He said “all” victims and that “all victims will be treated equitably.” Today, the archbishop sadly broke his promise to victims, and by moral extension, to every Catholic. What is truly disturbing is that the archbishop did not come down to Federal Court himself and personally today and stand in front of victims and their families and tell them why the archdiocese wants every one of their cases tossed. In fact, the archbishop has never once been to court. That’s because the archdiocese has apparently outsourced the gospel to a team of lawyers instead. What the archbishop has succeeded in doing, however, is to fully reveal the archdiocese’s true motives as the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeds: evade civil trails and keep Catholics in the dark as to the true nature and scope of the cover up of sex crimes by church officials; keep 120,000 pages of internal church documents on abuse, including the sworn testimony by Archbishop Weakland and Bishop Sklba, secret and sealed; avoid naming and detailing the at least 100 other alleged child sex offender clergy we now know were working in the archdiocese and not on the “official” list of offenders; and prevent any restitution from reaching victims/survivors. That’s not a good Christmas message. 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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