MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Jul. 19, 2013

EDITORIAL

In 2010, Fr. James Connell, then vice chancellor of the Milwaukee archdiocese, was publicly accused of complicity in protecting abusive priests. Connell was deeply stung by the accusation, which he denies. But rather than lash out at his accuser, abuse victim Peter Isely, he asked himself a question: “What if I had been a victim of sexual abuse by a priest?”

That question led him to a meeting and ultimately a friendship with Isely, as well as to an increasing activism on behalf of clergy abuse victims and in pursuit of the truth about the scandal.

Connell’s response is especially significant in light of the recent release of some 6,000 pages of documents relating to clerical sex abuse in the Milwaukee archdiocese and church officials’ response.

The documents disclose a distressingly familiar pattern: The archdiocese shuffled…