Retired Bishop Morneau Admits to Not Reporting Priest's Sex Abuse, Withdraws from Ministry

By Green Bay Press Gazette
Shelby Le Duc
September 21, 2018

https://www.thecompassnews.org/2018/09/bishop-morneau-requests-withdrawal-from-public-ministry/

A retired bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay has withdrawn from public ministry, acknowledging his failure to report a priest's sexual abuse of a minor 40 years ago that allowed the priest to assault other youths.

Bishop Robert Morneau asked to withdraw from public ministry in a Sept. 14 letter to the diocese. Bishop David Ricken approved that request three days later.

In the letter, Morneau admits to failing to report to the police a 1979 incident of a priest sexually abusing a child.

"As a result, this priest was able to abuse again several years later," he wrote.

The priest, David Boyea, pleaded guilty in 1985 to first-degree sexual assault of another child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He also was permanently removed from the priesthood.