More Wisconsin priests to be named in Jesuits' next list of accused abusers

By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 17, 2018

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Members of the Milwaukee chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Tuesday urged supporters for Democratic candidate for governor Matt Flynn to call on him to get out of the race, saying that as a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee he played a key role in covering up child sex abuse. Arthur Budzinski, Father Domenic Roscioli, his mother Angie Roscioli, Peter Isely, and Mike Sneesby held their news conference outside the Archbishop Weakland Center in downtown Milwaukee. Photo by Mary Spicuzza

More Catholic priests with ties to Wisconsin will be among those identified Monday in an ongoing effort by the Jesuit religious order to make public the names of priests and brothers with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

Monday's announcement by the Society of Jesus' USA Midwest Province follows the release of more than 150 names by the west and south-central provinces Dec. 7. Eight of those individuals had ties to Wisconsin, including five who had worked at Marquette University or Marquette University High School in Milwaukee.

Monday's list also is expected to include two additional Chicago priests supervised by former Marquette University President Robert Wild, who pulled his name from a new $108 million residence hall this fall, saying he mishandled allegations against three priests when he led that province from 1985 to 1991.

The Jesuits are the latest Catholic institution to divulge the names of known or suspected offenders in the wake of an August report by a Pennsylvania grand jury, which identified more than 300 abusive priests believed to have molested at least 1,000 children and prompted at least a dozen criminal investigations of church activities across the country.

Midwest Provincial Brian Paulson said the decision was in response to the growing demands by Catholics for transparency and accountability by church leaders and that he hoped releasing the names would provide a "measure of healing for victims."

"And making this information public may help other victim survivors to come forward and be able to tell their stories," Paulson said. "Many have suffered in silence for decades."

Victim advocates, who have repeatedly asked state authorities to investigate the church's handling of abuse cases, said they will renew that request with incoming Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, in light of the Jesuit revelations.

"The release of the names of Jesuits ... demonstrates the need for the attorneys general throughout the country to investigate not only the various dioceses but the religious orders as well," said the Rev. James Connolly, a canon lawyer and former vice chancellor for the Milwaukee archdiocese. "After all, approximately one-third of the Catholic priests in the United States belong to a religious order."

One of the largest Catholic religious orders, the Jesuits operate more than 80 elementary and high schools and 28 colleges and universities across the country. The Midwest province covers Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and most of northern and eastern Illinois.

Among the priests expected to be named Monday is the Rev. Perry L. Robinson, who was quietly fired in 1988 from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee for taking nude photographs of students. He was transferred to a parish in Ralston, Nebraska, but was removed in 2011 after that history became public.

Robinson was twice sent to a Maryland treatment center, including once before the cache of photos was found, according to a 2011 letter from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests to then-Wisconsin Provincial Tom Krettek.

The list is also expected to include the Revs. Lawrence Reuter and Donald O'Shaughnessy, both of whom had served at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, during Wild's tenure as head of the Chicago province.

O'Shaughnessy was accused by at least three men of abusing them at the academy, where he taught between 1958 and 1992. He was removed from ministry in 2004, and the Jesuits paid about $2.6 million to settle those claims.

Reuter, who served as the school's president from 1975 to 1990, was removed from active ministry in 2010 after admitting an "inappropriate relationship" with an 18-year-old male student during his time there, according to news accounts. The Jesuits reached a settlement with the student in the 1990s but allowed Reuter to remain in ministry. A second man also alleged Reuter abused him while he was a student in the 1980s.

The Jesuits' West Province earlier identified Donald McGuire, a former Chicago priest accused of molesting several boys, including some in Wisconsin, for decades beginning in the 1960s. He was convicted on several state and federal counts in 2006. He was defrocked a year later and died in 2017 while serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Terry McKiernan of the nonprofit advocacy site BishopsAccountability.org said the west and south-central provinces omitted at least 30 names of abusers who had served in their jurisdictions in the lists made public on Dec. 7. 

Paulson, who heads the Midwest Province, said it was questioning by student journalists and not the pending release of the Jesuit names that prompted Wild to pull his name from the new Marquette dorm in September.

The sex abuse scandal has cost the U.S. Catholic Church at least $3 billion since the 1950s, according to most accounts. But a 2015 analysis by National Catholic Reporter put that at closer to $4 billion. The Jesuits order paid one of the largest settlements to date. In 2012, its Oregon Province agreed to pay $166 million to about 500 survivors, many of whom were abused in remote Alaskan villages and U.S. Indian reservations, in order to emerge from bankruptcy.

In Wisconsin, there are at least 122 Wisconsin priest and brothers, and one Catholic sister, who have been publicly accused of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, according to church and court records and an extensive database maintained by BishopsAccountability.org. Most of those are diocesan priests, including more than 50 who served in the 10-county Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The archdiocese paid $21 million to about 350 victims to emerge from a bankruptcy in 2015.

The Milwaukee archdiocese lists 48 diocesan priests with credible allegations on its website. Lawyers for abuse survivors say there are at least 100 additional accused abusers identified in documents sealed as part of the bankruptcy record. 

None of the other Wisconsin dioceses — Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse and Superior — lists their abusers online. Brent King, spokesman for the Madison diocese, said it published a list in the diocesan newspaper in 2003 and that the BishopsAccountability.org list is up to date.

The Green Bay diocese said it is working with a consultant and expects to release its names before the end of the year. The Superior diocese will make a decision, likely in 2019, and the La Crosse diocese said it would have a statement after the Jesuits release their names on Monday.

The 10-state St. Joseph Province of the Capuchin Franciscans, which has extensive operations in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, was among the first Catholic orders to identify its offenders in a 2013 audit.