LA CROSSE (WI)
Marshfield News Herald
By Elizabeth Putnam
Central WIsconsin Sunday
Victims of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse have received far less money from the Catholic Church during the past five decades than any other Wisconsin diocese or archdiocese, according to a Central Wisconsin Sunday review of abuse statistics from the state's four Catholic dioceses and one archdiocese.
Central Wisconsin Sunday found that from 1950 to 2002 the La Crosse Diocese, which includes Adams, Portage and Wood counties, spent $15,800 on counseling stemming from 58 sexual abuse allegations against 28 diocesan clergy members.
Thirty-one of those allegations, involving 10 clergymen, have been substantiated.
"Assistance has been made available in appropriate circumstances based upon need, not culpability of the diocese or whether the allegation is substantiated," according to a La Crosse Diocese report released in January 2004.