March 06, 2005

Victim: Church slow prosecuting priest

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette Extra

(Published Sunday, March 6, 2005 11:51:49 PM CST)

By Sid Schwartz/Gazette Staff

A former Reedsburg man, who claims the Rev. Kenneth Klubertanz also molested him, said the church is dragging its feet in the prosecution of the priest.

"It's taken so long," the 48-year-old man said. "It's taken over a year now just to get word that there's going to be a canonical trial. Rome works so slow.

"It really works on you at times. You feel defenseless. You feel hopeless."

He is one of three men who have accused Klubertanz of inappropriate sexual contact.

Unlike Christopher Leonard, a former Janesville man who claims Klubertanz molested him in 1975, the former Reedsburg man does not want his name published.

"Some have said, 'If you come out, maybe others will come out.' That may be true, but then I have to live with the stigma."

The man said Klubertanz sexually assaulted him when he was 12 while they were alone at a cabin in northern Wisconsin.

Posted by kshaw at March 6, 2005 07:56 AM