Bishop Undeserving of Celebratory Burial: SNAP

By Scott Viau
Patch
December 29, 2015

http://patch.com/illinois/joliet/bishop-undeserving-celebratory-burial-snap-0


With the burial of deceased Bishop Joseph Imesch Tuesday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is deploring the full honors that are being bestowed on him.

Geneva SNAP leader Kate Bochte said in a statement that the honors are an injustice to the sexual abuse victims.

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“When we ignore wrongdoing, we encourage wrongdoing. And when Catholic officials, in 2015, keep treating their most disgraced complicit colleagues as heroes or saints, they encourage other church employees to ignore, conceal and enable child sex crimes and cover ups,” Bochte said in a statement.

According to the Joliet Diocese, Imesch’s “tenacity” gained him the respect of fellow bishops.

“He diligently attempted to have a pastoral letter on women approved by the Conference,” the Diocese said in a release on its website. “Though he was unsuccessful, he exemplified perseverance and great courage.”

owever, Imesch’s diligence for equality pales in comparison to his lack of efforts in bringing to light sexual abuse within the Diocese.

“Over decades, Imesch knowingly put hundreds of children at risk of sexual violence by quietly assigning perpetrator priests to parishes, repeatedly showing no concern for the safety of those children or compassion for those who were sexually violated,” Bochte said. “At best, he treated victims with disdain. At worst, he treated them as enemies.”

Imesch retired from the Diocese in 2006, but continued to administer the sacrament of confirmation and still served when he was needed, according to the Diocese.

“A parish secretary told him that he was ‘the last resort,’ meaning that whenever a parish or a religious community could not find anyone else for Mass or confessions, he was contacted,” the Diocese said in its obituary for Imesch.

The Diocese said Imesch will be “fondly remembered as a good shepherd” and someone “who put his love for God’s people, especially the poor and disadvantaged, into concrete action.”

Imesch was laid to rest Dec. 29 in Resurrection Cemetery in Romeoville. A Solemn Vespers was celebrated Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet. A mass of Christian burial was held at 11 a.m. Dec. 29 at the cathedral.