Assignment Record – Rev. Robert R. Marsicek, SDS

Summary of Case: Robert "Bob" Marsicek was ordained a priest of the Milwaukee-based Salvatorian order in 1968. He ministered in parishes in the dioceses of Green Bay WI, Phoenix AZ, Birmingham AL, Sacramento CA, and Milwaukee WI. In Sacramento, he was diocesan chaplain for the Boy Scouts from 1990 to 2000.

Marsicek was suspended from active ministry in March 2013, when he was investigated by police for incidents involving a young girl at Wauwatosa Catholic School. (Wauwatosa Catholic School was created in 2011 from the merger of St. Pius X school and and another parish school. It serves children from preschool age to 8th grade.) On March 27, /2013, a WCS teacher had told Wauwatosa police that she witnessed three incidents in recent days of Marsicek inappropriately touching one of her young students.

On April 13, 2013, the pastor of Marsicek's former parish in Orangedale CA read a letter at Masses revealing that Marsicek allegedly had sexually abused two children there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Sacramento diocese had reported the allegations to the Milwaukee archdiocese and the Salvatorians in May 2012. WI church officials did nothing at the time to restrict Marsicek’s ministry; until the March 2013 news reports, he remained pastor of the two parishes with access to children in their grade schools and day-care programs.

In mid-April 2013, after the Milwaukee district attorney announced that he would not be charging Marsicek, Wauwatosa police released a detailed investigative report to local media. The report revealed numerous complaints and “red flags” about Marsicek dating back years.  A mother had told the St. Pius X principal in approximately 2006 that her daughter, then in kindergarten or first grade, had complained of Marsicek touching her genitalia. Marsicek himself admitted to police that parents had complained about his behavior in around 2007 and in 2012. The police report also summarized the personnel files that had been maintained by the Milwaukee archdiocese and by the Salvatorians. These revealed repeated complaints by parents, teachers and day-care providers about Marsicek’s inappropriate behavior with children. The archdiocesan file included a 2005 letter to then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan from his chancellor citing parents' concern about “possible boundary issues.” The church files also showed that school and church officials repeatedly counseled Marsicek to stop touching children. Also in April 2013, a woman from Manitowoc County WI (Green Bay diocese) told the Journal Sentinel and the Salvatorians of allegations against Marsicek from when he served in a parish there in the 1970s.

On February 22, 2017, Marsicek was criminally charged with three counts of felony sexual assault of a girl, beginning when she was six years old. The alleged abuses occurred at St. Pius X parish and school in Wauwatosa WI from 2007 to 2010.


Ordained: 1968


   

Start Stop Parish/Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1968

Washington D.C. archbishop was Patrick Aloysius O'Boyle (1947-1973).

1969 Divine Savior Seminary Lanham MD  

1969

Green Bay bishop was Aloysius John Wycislo (1968-1983).

1973 St. Gregory's

St. Nazianz

• A woman told a news source in April 2013 of allegations against Marsicek stemming from his time working in Manitowoc County in the 1970s.

WI 2/2 St. Gregory's had a school with 75-67 boys and 86-101 girls.

1973

Phoenix bishop was Edward Anthony McCarthy (1969-1976).

1974 St. Mark's Phoenix AZ 2/5 St .Mark's had a school with 241 students.
1973 1974 Arizona State Hospital Phoenix AZ   This was a station of St. Mark's in Phoenix.
1973 1974 Maricopa Children's Hospital Maricopa AZ   This was a station of St. Mark's in Phoenix.
1973 1974 Hilton Rest Home   AZ   This was a station of St. Mark's in Phoenix.

1974

Birmingham bishop was Joseph Gregory Vath (1969-1987).

1987 St. Joseph's Huntsville AL 1/2, 2/2, 2/3, 1/2 St. Joseph's had a school with 183-265 students.
1983 1987 St. John the Baptist Madison AL   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Huntsville.

1987

Sacramento bishop was Francis Anthony Quinn (1979-1993), followed by William Keith Weigand (1993-2008).

2000 Divine Savior

Orangevale

• Sacramento police received a report in 2012 that Marsicek had molested two boys from this parish, who were brothers, in the late 1980s and 1990s. One of the boys told his mother he was sexually abused by Marsicek on camping trips.

CA 1/2, 1/3

Marsicek co-founded this parish in 1987.

Divine Savior had a religious education program with 288-432 students.

1990 2000 Catholic Committee on Scouting Sacramento CA diocesan chaplain  

2000

Milwaukee archbishop was Rembert George Weakland, O.S.B. (1977-2002), followed by Timothy Michael Dolan (2002-2009), and Jerome Edward Listecki (2009-).

2001 Salvatorian Provincial Residence Milwaukee WI    

June 2001

 

2011 St. Pius X

Wauwatosa

• Marsicek's personnel file, as summarized in an April 2013 Wauwatosa police report, reveals that St. Pius X 's before and after-school daycare workers expressed concern about his behaviors with children. Marsicek would invite certain children to his living quarters, after which they would return to the daycare with candy and stuffed animals. Marsicek's superiors' response was to not allow him to have children in his apartment. He was, however, allowed to continue to visit them in the program.

• In 2005 a mother reported to the school that Marsicek had indecently touched her five-year-old daughter. The acting vice-principal questioned the little girl, who then changed her story. Marsicek's church files contained no record of the mother's complaint. It came to light in 2013 after the mother learned of the new allegations and called the police.

• On February 22, 2017, Marsicek was criminally charged with three counts of felony sexual assault of another girl, beginning when she was six years old. The alleged abuses occurred at St. Pius X parish and school from September 2007 to June 2010. According to the Journal Sentinel's report of the criminal complaint, the girl said that Marsicek "at one point laid on her and touched her breasts and at another reached under her jumper to 'pat' her vagina."

WI 2/2, 1/1

St. Pius X had a school with 143-120 students and a religious education program with 156-231 students.

Marsicek was told repeatedly by his superiors in the archdiocese and his order to stop hugging and touching children, and was counseled about boundary issues. Archbishop Dolan was aware of complaints against Marsicek in 2005.

In 2011, St, Pius X parish school merged with the elementary school of nearby St. Brendan parish. The new entity was built on St. Brendan's parish campus and is called Wauwatosa Catholic School.

 

2006 2012 Archdiocesan Consultors

Milwaukee WI    
2008 March 2013 Mother of Good Counsel Milwaukee WI 1/1 Mother of Good Counsel had a school with 253-203 students and a religious education program with 95 students
2011 March 2013 Wauwatosa Catholic School

Wauwatosa

• Marsicek was accused by a teacher of inappropriately touching a Wauwatosa Catholic School student in March 2013. The teacher told police she saw Marsicek on separate occasions squeeze the buttocks of a little girl who was sitting on his lap, and that he placed his hand on her upper thigh, "near her private parts" while he whispered in the child's ear.

• Police discovered during their investigation that there were other complaints going back to at least 2004 in Marsicek's personnel file. Parents, a day care worker and others described "red flag behaviors" or excessive "playfulness" and "body games" with children.

 

WI  

WCS was formed in 2010 from the merger of St. Pius X and St. Bernard parish schools. It serves children preschool through eighth grade.

In May or June 2012, both Archbishop Listecki and SDS Provincial Joseph Rodrigues were made aware that police in CA were investigating reports that Marsicek had sexually abused two young brothers at Divine Savior parish in Orangedale CA in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Neither Listecki nor Rodrigues notified the public of these allegations or did anything to restrict Marsicek's ministry until March 2013, when local news media reported on the recent incidents in Wauwatosa. In April 2013, Listecki spokesperson and Rodrigues both defended their decision not to remove Maricek ten months earlier. They did not want to disrupt the probe by CA law enforcement, the churchmen said.

Marsicek was suspended from active ministry March 28, 2013, while police investigated the allegation of inappropriate contact with a Wauwatosa Catholic School student. Marsicek told police he was merely being affectionate with the children.

March 2013 February 2017 Provincialate of the Society of the Divine Savior Milwaukee WI  

After police in March 2013 banned Marsicek from St. Pius X and Mother of Good Counsel and their affiliated schools and day-care programs, church officials ordered him removed from ministry. He was sent to live under supervision at his order's provincialate.

On February 22, 2017, Marsicek was criminally charged with three counts of felony sexual assault of a girl, beginning when she was six years old. The alleged abuses occurred at St. Pius X parish and school in Wauwatosa from 2007 to 2010. According to the Journal Sentinel's report of the criminal complaint, the now-15-year-old girl said that Marsicek "at one point laid on her and touched her breasts and at another reached under her jumper to 'pat' her vagina."

The JS also reported that when "asked if he was aroused by boys and girls, Marsicek allegedly told detectives, 'Certainly I’m aroused (by) just the cuteness and beauty of them,' but not to the level that he would want to have sex with them." He admitted to having erections while dealing with children.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1969-2011)

A Wauwatosa Priest Ordered to Stay Away from His Church and School, By Keller Russell, WTMJ, March 30, 2013
Wauwatosa Pastor Suspended Following Police Investigation, WISN, March 30, 2013
St. Pius X Priest Removed from Duty As Police Investigate Allegations, The Patch, March 31, 2013
Teacher reported Wauwatosa priest, investigation under way, Teacher says she saw inappropriate contact with a student, WISN, April 01, 2013
Wauwatosa Parishioners Learn Their Priest is Under Investigation, cbs58.com, Story Updated: April 3, 2013
No charges issued against Wauwatosa priest, by Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinal, April 12, 2013
Former area Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse, Father Robert Marsicek was pastor at Divine Savior Catholic Church, By Claire Doan, April 15, 2013
Wauwatosa priest faces child abuse investigation in California, by Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinal, April 16, 2013
Milwaukee Catholic Church officials knew of California sex abuse allegations against priest, By Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinel, April 17, 2013
Pius X Priest Had Been Warned Repeatedly About Physical Contact: Police Reports, by Jim Price, Wauwatosa Patch, April 18, 2013
Numerous complaints made against suspended Wauwatosa priest, report shows, by Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinal, April 18, 2013
Wauwatosa priest subject of multiple complaints, The Associated Press, via Journal Times, April 19, 2013
Cardinal Dolan Knew of Reports against Suspended Milwaukee Priest but Left Him Working with Children, By Peter Isely, SNAP Wisconsin, April 19, 2013
Former Orangevale Priest Targeted in Sexual-abuse Investigation, By Robert D. Davila, Sacramento Bee, April 19, 2013
At " Mass of Atonement" Listecki Must Explain Leaving Wauwatosa Priest with Years of Child Sex Abuse Reports Working with Children, SNAP Wisconsin, April 22, 2013
Archbishop Speaks after Recent Removal of Priest from Duties, WISN, April 23, 2013
Archbishop Jerome Listecki suggests church erred in Wauwatosa priest case, By Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinel, April 23, 2013
Archbishop Suggests Marsicek Should Have Been Removed, by Jim Price, Wauwatosa Patch, April 24, 2013
Corrections and Clarifications, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 25, 2013
Archbishop Listecki responds to allegations, WTMJ, By Keller Russell, April 28, 2013
Benedictine Monk from Archdiocese of Milwaukee Charged with Attempted Child Abduction of 14 Year Old Girl, By John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin, April 28, 2013
Wauwatosa Police Open Second Investigation on Priest, By Annysa Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 7, 2013
Police Open Second Investigation on St. Pius X Priest, By Viviana Buzo, The Patch, May 8, 2013
Police Won't Pursue Charges against Priest after 2nd Investigation, By Ashley Luthern, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 11, 2013
Priest Charged with Sex Assault of Child at Wauwatosa Parish, By Annysa Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 23, 2017
State of Wisconsin v Marsicek, Criminal Complaint, February 22, 2017



Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Marsicek's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on October 23, 2017.