UNITED STATES
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel June 18, 2013
In what’s being touted as a first of its kind voluntary airing of a Catholic religious order’s culpability in the church’s sexual abuse crisis, a branch of the Capuchin Franciscans on Tuesday issued an independent audit recounting its own history of sexual abuse of young people and coverups that spanned decades.
The audit was commissioned by the 10-state St. Joseph Province of the Capuchin Order, which has several ministries in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, last June. It lists 23 current or former friars with confirmed allegations of sexual abuse of minors, many of them occurring in Wisconsin.
Echoing many of the complaints about the broader church’s handling of the global sex abuse crisis, it says that, dating back to the 1930s, the Capuchins:
■ Moved offenders from position to position without divulging their histories or returned them from ministry after treatment where they would re-offend.
■ Rarely reported allegations to civil authorities, even after they were required by law.
■ Routinely placed concerns for their accused friars and their organization over those of victims.
■ Spent vastly more on lawyers than on compensating or caring for victims.
■ May have lost or destroyed documents.
■ And often revictimized survivors, especially those who sued the order or sought compensation, transparency or other forms of accountability; in one case, the order’s attorney threatened to publicly divulge a victim’s sexual orientation if he sued.
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