WAUSAU (WI)
Wausau Daily Herald
January 18, 2020
By Laura Schulte
[Photo caption] David Clohessy, of St. Louis, who is the Missouri director and former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, holds a list of Catholic priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abused and have spent time in the Diocese of La Crosse on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019, at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Wausau, Wis.
La Crosse – At least 25 priests who served in the Diocese of La Crosse over the past several decades sexually assaulted children, the diocese disclosed Saturday.
The disclosure, posted at 4 p.m. on the diocese website at diolc.org, brings the total number of Catholic priests with substantiated accusations of sexual abuse in Wisconsin to nearly 160.
The La Crosse diocese serves nearly 200,000 Catholics in counties across central and western Wisconsin, including those in Marathon, Portage and Wood counties.
The list was published after an audit of the diocese clergy files dating back to 1868 by the Texas-based firm Defenbaugh & Associates Inc..
The list included 18 clergy members who were part of the La Crosse diocese:
Bruce Ball, Raymond Bornbach, Eugene Comiskey, Thomas Dempsey, James Ennis, James Finucan, John Thomas Finucan, Tom Garthwaite, Richard Herrmann, William Hertzenberg, Thomas Langer, James E. Mason, Garland Muller, Charles Rasmussen, Albert Sonnberger, James Stauber, Patrick Umberger and Raymond J. Wagner.
The diocese also named two priests who were part of other Catholic orders but were accused of abuse while serving in the La Crosse diocese: Timothy Svea and Bogdan Werra.
The list also included five priests who spent time in the diocese and whose names appeared on other Catholic diocese and religious order lists of suspected abusers: Dennis Bouche, Daniel Budzynski, Orville Munie, Joseph Smetana and Francis Zimmerer.
In addition to the 25 names, the diocese released the service history for each priest including ordination date, pastoral assignments and their current status, including dates of death. Most of the priests are now dead, and the diocese said none of the surviving abusers is serving in the ministry.
Parish leaders across the diocese also were instructed to read a letter from La Crosse Bishop William Patrick Callahan during Masses this weekend. Callahan did not make himself available for reporter interviews Saturday.
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