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	Priest's Victim Wants Explanation from State Supreme Court Justice By Natalie Arnold WBAY May 16, 2008 http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=8330019&nav=menu24_1 Newly filed court records reveal an alleged 1978 agreement between a former Green Bay Catholic bishop and an Outagamie County prosecutor to keep allegations of a priest committing sexual assault a secret. The assault victims of former priest John Patrick Feeney now want an apology from that prosecutor -- Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. Prosser was the Outagamie County district attorney who decided not to file charges against Feeney in the late 1970s. Another prosecutor decided to pursue the case roughly 20 years later, which led to Feeney's conviction in 2004. The two victims, who are brothers, are now suing the Green Bay Catholic Diocese for damages. All along the Merryfield brothers have accused the diocese of a cover-up. Now they've filed a letter with the court which they say shows Prosser was involved as well. Prosser said he didn't want to put two boys through any more pain. At least that's what Todd Merryfield remembers when the district attorney decided not to file charges against Father John Feeney -- the man Merryfield said sexually assaulted him and his brother. Now Merryfield suspects a very different reason. "If it wasn't so sad, I'd laugh," he told us by phone. "I mean, when you see documents like this, it gives you all that you need to know what's going on in the background." What he's talking about a 1978 letter from the bishop of Green Bay. The bishop talks about meeting with the Outagamie County district attorney and an apparent agreement that they reach. Bishop Aloysius Wycislo writes, "Out of respect for the position of the Church and in order to prevent unnecessary scandal, the D.A. came to see me merely to state that he was pursuing this case.... I had to agree with the District Attorney that the Church would prefer to keep this out of court and out of the public eye." The bishop goes on to write that he told the D.A. the diocese was handling the problem. "As a D.A., wouldn't you want to protect, I mean, the weakest segment of society? The children? Instead, he goes to protect the most powerful institution on the face of the earth," Merryfield said. Click here to read Justice Prosser's response. The Green Bay Diocese says since this is under litigation, it's not able to comment on this matter.
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