| BishopAccountability.org
|
||
|
Father Haley's Cryptic Message; SNAP Director Writes Cardinal Maida By Matt C. Abbott Renew America February 24, 2008 http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/080224 Over the last couple of years, I've received e-mails asking about the status of Father James Haley, the priest whose story is detailed in this 2004 Washington Times article, and whom I've quoted in previous columns. In late November 2007, I e-mailed Father Haley to ask how he's doing and if there's been any new development(s) in his case, which had essentially placed him in canonical limbo. I also e-mailed him earlier this month about another matter. Father Haley responded on Feb. 19, 2008 (slightly edited): "I wanted to acknowledge these two emails, but I have nothing to say at this point in time. Well, other than I have heard nothing, absolutely nothing from the Church since Wednesday Nov. 30, 2005 at 12:37 p.m. Please keep me on your radar — 'it' will be the big blip that suddenly appears after so many warnings. And thanks for your work on this vital issue." So, ladies and gentlemen, that's all I know for now. But I do appreciate those who have expressed interest in, and concern about, Father Haley's well-being. Last month, Peter J. Isley, Midwest director of SNAP, sent the following letter to Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit (slightly edited):
'Feeney, as hundreds of Church documents spanning 30 years now indisputably show, was a pedophile deemed 'untreatable' by Wisconsin mental health professionals. Reports of his criminal behavior against children, according to church files, literally poured into the diocese since 'his very first assignment.' So explosive and dangerous was Feeney's behavior that you and your predecessor in Green Bay, Bishop Aloysius Wycislo, transferred Feeney over 22 times, nearly one new transfer every year. 'In October of 1983, in a letter from Wycislo to Feeney, the bishop writes that 'civil servants' and the Wisconsin attorney general have given the diocese a directive to either put Feeney into a secure treatment facility or Feeney 'will be prosecuted.' Instead, Wycislo urged Feeney to find a bishop outside of the State of Wisconsin that would take him without treatment, thus directly violating the attorney general's order. Wycislo writes to Feeney that 'another diocese, another atmosphere, new people and new faces might be the answer to your problem.' Of course, that means, to a pedophile, new children to rape. Wycislo concludes the letter assuring Feeney that he 'is capable of forgetting all of this and writing a good letter of recommendation to you to a new bishop.' 'In January 1, 1984 you took charge of the Green Bay diocese and, therefore, Fr. Feeney's case. Feeney, at the time, was still living in the Green Bay diocese, was never put in treatment, and not turned over by church officials to the attorney general or law enforcement. In the fall of 1984, Feeney did find a new bishop that would take him in Las Vegas. Under your direct blessing and authorization, you transferred Feeney to Las Vegas, still not putting him into treatment — again, a direct violation of the attorney general's directive. 'When Feeney arrived at his first assignment in Las Vegas, St. Francis De Sales parish, he indeed found 'fresh faces' and continued his criminal conduct against children, as a lawsuit filed from Nevada this week by one of his Nevada victims demonstrates. The following years Feeney continued to be removed by you from ministerial assignments, including his placement to work in Nevada juvenile correction facilities. Again, he came to the attention of authorities for sexual misconduct, again he was removed from ministry, and again he was not prosecuted. 'Most alarmingly, Church records contain several letters to you from Father Peter Lechner, who operates several so-called 'retreat' and 'treatment' centers for sexually deviant priests. These letters conclude with the request that you 'destroy' Feeney's records that were sent to you by Lechner 'for the welfare of individuals and dioceses.' These records which appear, indeed, not to be in the file, would have contained criminal evidence gathered by Lechner and his team from Feeney and others, detailing what would have been prosecutable sex offenses. 'It is crystal clear from these documents that you both violated the intent if not the direct order from the Wisconsin attorney general, that you allowed Feeney, a career pedophile, to leave Wisconsin untreated, unpunished and unrepentant and assault more children in more parish and ministry assignments. 'The scores of victims of Feeney and their family members in Wisconsin, Nevada and California — lives forever changed by you and Father Feeney, lives whose faith in the decency and uprightness off church leaders has been utterly and completely shattered, deserve from you an explanation, an apology, and an answer.' |
||
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution. |
||