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Clergy abuse: Activist asks Wausau church-goers to lobby La Crosse Diocese for openness

By Laura Schulte
Wausau Daily Herald
September 15, 2019

https://bit.ly/2kiKWSp

Missouri director and former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests David Clohessy, of St. Louis, tears up during an interview on Sunday, September 15, 2019, at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Wausau, Wis. Clohessy passed out fliers with information regarding who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and have spent time in the Diocese of La Crosse.
Photo by Tork Mason

Missouri director and former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests David Clohessy, of St. Louis, gives a flier with information about credibly accused priests to a parishioner on Sunday, September 15, 2019, at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Wausau, Wis.
Photo by Tork Mason

Missouri director and former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests David Clohessy, of St. Louis, passes out fliers to parishioners on Sunday, September 15, 2019, at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Wausau, Wis. Clohessy shared information regarding priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and have spent time in the Diocese of La Crosse.
Photo by Tork Mason

Dozens of flyers fluttered under windshield wipers in the late morning breeze Sunday as parishioners left St. Michael Catholic Church in Wausau. 

The flyers were neatly tucked there by David Clohessy, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. As parishioners began leaving the church, he handed them out, asking people to take them home and read them. 

His goal, he said, was to bring awareness to the fact that the La Crosse Diocese still hasn't released a list of credibly accused abusers, members of the clergy who sexually abused young children and are known by the church. He's hoping that the flyers, which target five specific former priests, will cause the parishioners to go home and talk and even call the bishop, William Callahan, and demand more openness. 

SNAP often holds events and advocates for changes in laws to protect victims, as well as recognition of abusive clergy by the Catholic Church. Clohessy has been working with the organization for years, including formerly as executive director. He's no stranger to handing out flyers as people leave church, he said, having done it nearly 35 times in recent years. 

He's a victim himself, he said. He and three of his brothers were abused by a priest in Missouri, he said. He still gets emotional about it.

"I want to protect kids and heal victims," he said. "I want to deter these crimes from happening again." 

Clohessy on Sunday morning drove to Wausau to raise awareness of five priests he believes resided within the La Crosse Diocese and have been credibly accused. He was supposed to be joined by Wausau resident Zach Hiner, also an abuse survivor, but he fell sick, Clohessy said.

Clohessy claimed it was possible that all of the named priests could have assaulted minors during their time within the diocese, even if not there on assignment, according to a press release he issued to local media. 

The names of the priests are: 

  • Raymond Adamsky: According to a list of restricted priests on the website for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy process, Adamsky was accused of inappropriate touching and attempted fondling of young girls in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1994, the diocese paid a $20,000 settlement to victims. He was assigned to a life of prayer and penance in 2004. According to Clohessy, he was sent to Wausau for "treatment" at one point.
  • John C. Wagner: Also listed as a restricted priest on the Archdiocese website, Wagner was accused of abuse of minors several times between 1960 and 1990. There were several settlements given to survivors. He was voluntarily laicized in 2012. According to Clohessy, he was stationed in Wausau at one point. 
  • Donald Francis Ulatowski: According to documents from the Anderson Associates law firm, Ulatowski was accused in 1994 of bringing boys to his Wisconsin home and his room in the rectory in an Illinois church. He admitted his "errors of judgment" in a letter to the Review Board, which is established in dioceses to review cases of abuse. Ulatowski retired in 1999. He died later that year. According to Clohessy, his home was in Adams. 
  • Daniel Budzynski: According to the list of restricted priests on the Archdiocese's website, it was known in the 1970s that Budzynski had an issue. Victims accused the priest of abuse in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The list of victims totaled 32 people. He was dismissed from the clergy in 2004. According to Clohessy, he spent time in Stevens Point as a priest. 
  • Thomas Powers: According to a list of abusive clerics on the Jesuit Midwest Province website, Powers was accused of abuse several times between the 1970s and the early 2000s in Ohio and Michigan. He was dismissed from the order in 2001. Clohessy said that he was a chaplain at Fort McCoy in Monroe County. 

In Wisconsin, more than 130 priests have been identified as credibly accused of sexual assault, but that number doesn't include at least 20 others who have been accused and named on the clergy abuse monitoring site BishopAccountability.org, which pulls together not only substantiated claims of abuse but also reports from media.

Across the state, survivors are calling for justice and asking that Josh Kaul, Wisconsin's attorney general, conduct an investigation into the dioceses and release the names of known offenders. Kaul has declined to answer questions about a possible investigation into the Catholic church. 

Jack Felsheim, the director of the Office for Communications and Public Relations for the La Crosse Diocese, said that the organization is taking its "final steps towards greater transparency through the release of names of clerics." He said the review, and the coming release of names, will show clerics who have served in the diocese since the beginning, and all the names will have had substantiated incidents of sexual abuse of a minor.

The La Crosse Diocese also made news this week after a former Pacelli Catholic High School teacher was charged with sexual assaault after sending inappropriate messages to multiple students and inappropriately touching another. According to a criminal complaint, Bryant Marcus White, a 37-year-old math teacher and coach for the school,  was sending messages to students over Snapchat, and touched the buttocks of another girl. 

White was let go from the school in November 2018, after the diocese conducted an internal investigation into the claims.

Clohessy was able to hand out all of his flyers Sunday morning, and hopes as the parishioners of St. Michael read them, they share the information with their family and friends. The parishioners accepted the flyers willingly and some even cracked jokes about the upcoming Packers football game. 

Even if they don't know one of the accused on the list, Clohessy hoped they think more critically about situations where they could prevent abuse in the future, whether by clergy members or other members of the community.  

"I'm convinced almost every time this issue is discussed, a kid is saved," he said. "It's the intangible part that we won't be able to quantify."

Contact: leschulte@gannett.com




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