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	Judge Rules Church Must Release Files It Has on Notorious Priest Associated Press, carried in Desert Sun [Los Angeles CA] February 7, 2007 http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/NEWS10/702070303/1024 A judge Tuesday ordered the Roman Catholic Church to release insurance records and confidential files related to a notorious priest who had been convicted of molestation before being transferred to California. Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman ordered the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to make public 3,000 pages of insurance records and hundreds of pages from the secret disciplinary files of Siegfried Widera. Lichtman wrote that Widera's files prove that "priests with known sexual proclivities have been handed off from location to another without regard to the potential harm to the children of the Church." Kathleen Hohl, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said it would abide by the ruling but declined further comment. The documents will not be released for at least 30 days. In his 59-page ruling, Lichtman struck down archdiocese arguments for keeping the documents private, including claims that the records were protected by third-party privacy rights, the First Amendment and the confidential business rights of the archdiocese. Attorneys familiar with the case differed about the significance of the ruling regarding hundreds of other clergy abuse cases pending in California. Raymond Boucher, the lead plaintiffs' attorney for more than 700 abuse claims, said the ruling would set a precedent for the release of other confidential files on priests. "I don't think there's anything that's come out of California that's been this comprehensive and significant," he said.
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