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	Group Alleges That De Pere Ministry Protected Pedophile Priest WCCO February 21, 2008 http://wcco.com/wisconsinwire/22.0.html?type=local&state=WI&category=n&filename=WI—PriestAbuse.xml DE PERE, Wis. — The director of a support group for people abused by priests called on St. Norbert Abbey officials on Wednesday to explain why a suspected child molester was apparently allowed to transfer to their ministry in the mid-1980s. Officials with the De Pere ministry had to know the background of Rev. Edward Smith, said Peter Isely, the Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Father Smith was known and confirmed to be a child sex molester," Isely said. "They deliberately and knowingly transferred him to Green Bay in 1986." He said it was "simply not credible" to believe the officials didn't know about Smith, who last year was held civilly liable of sexually assaulting now-39-year-old Ken Whitwell 240 times over a three-year period in the 1980s. St. Norbert Abbot Gary Neville last month said Smith was a Norbertine priest who worked in Delaware but has never been a member of the St. Norbert Abbey. Judy Turba, spokeswoman for the Norbertine Order, backed Neville's statement but confirmed the Norbertines have recently been in contact with local law enforcement. Isely referred to a number of documents made public in last year's civil lawsuit in Delaware, which resulted in a U.S. District Court jury awarding Whitwell $41 million in damages. The documents include an October 1995 letter written by Abbot John Neitzel of Daylesford, Pa. His note to Abbot Benjamin Mackin at St. Norbert approved the reverend's move to De Pere as executive director of the Tri-Catholic High School Foundation. "The bottom line in that it is not desirable at this time for Ed to remain in a ministry in the neighborhood areas and states served by Daylesford Abbey," Neitzel wrote. "He needs a new area and a new ministry to get a fresh start." De Pere police have initiated an investigation, according to Brown County district attorney John Zakowski. He said he expects to review the case after detectives complete their work. Wisconsin could still prosecute a case like this decades after the alleged incidents because the statute of limitations gets put on hold if the defendant flees the state. Information from: Green Bay Press-Gazette, http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com
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