BishopAccountability.org
	Prosser Disputes Claims of Wrongdoing in Priest Abuse Case By Andy Nelesen Green Bay Press-Gazette May 18, 2008 http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/GPG0101/805180692/1978/GPGlife Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser bristles at the assertion he did something wrong as Outagamie County District Attorney when he talked with Bishop Aloysius Wycislo about a priest's conduct with two young boys in the late 1970s. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has called on Prosser to explain his connection to the church after details of a meeting between Prosser and Wycislo surfaced in documents connected to a fraud lawsuit against the Green Bay Diocese and its insurance company. Prosser said SNAP's assertions of wrongdoing or improper collusion are "categorically untrue." "They have been trying since the beginning of the year to show there was a conspiracy here that I was part and parcel of it, and it is all false," Prosser said. In the December 1978 letter, Wycislo wrote: "I have just spent a half hour with the district attorney for Outagamie County, who presented me with evidence of a number of crimes of like sexual nature and a number of other civil violations of law that the attorney feels are base enough for a court case against Father (John Patrick) Feeney. "As is usual in such cases and out of respect for the position of the church, and in order to prevent unnecessary scandal, the DA came to see me merely to state that he was pursuing this case, gathering evidence toward prosecution of Father Feeney for a number of misdemeanors. "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 and IU was able to tell him of our decision last week, with which he agreed." Prosser said it was after two reports of misconduct by Feeney that he went to talk to Wycislo to suggest Feeney be removed from the public ministry. He said he didn't think a criminal prosecution would be successful. Prosser said one set of allegations came from Sharon Merryfield, whom he knew from high school. She said Feeney touched the two sons' chests while they were saying prayers at home before going to bed. Feeney tried to move his hands lower, but one rolled over and the other protested, the woman told Prosser. Feeney, now 81, was convicted in 2004 and is serving 15 years in jail for assaulting Todd and Troy Merryfield. The attack and its aftermath is the basis for the civil fraud suit that prompted the release of church documents. Prosser said the second allegation came from an older male who said he was abused, but the individual refused to make the allegation public. "He said 'I don't want to go to court ... it will damage my reputation in Freedom,'" Prosser said. "I didn't think I had a successful case." Prosser said he believed both Merryfield boys, but didn't think he could win a case. "I told Sharon (Merryfield) that a trial was going to be a test of credibility of two young boys against a priest," Prosser said. "I believed the boys. Their credibility would be attacked in court. They would be national news. It would be difficult for them at trial and in their small community." Prosser noted that the state's sexual assault laws were rewritten in the late 1970s — changing from rape to sexual assault — and were complicated and untested on many fronts and another factor in his decision. Prosser on Friday said his meeting with Wycislo was likely in June or July 1978. He said that when his he raised concerns about Feeney's conduct, Wycislo said he would "take care of it." "I assumed that when the Bishop said he would take care of it that he would remove this guy from the parish," Prosser said. "I don't think he acted properly." Prosser said he had no information about an allegation that Feeney touched the penis of a boy during a confessional when he met with Wycislo and was unaware that Feeney had been moved from several other parishes before the Freedom episode. "Quite honestly, I feel betrayed," Prosser said. "That was never told to be by the bishop." Prosser on Friday stopped short of saying the information in the letter between Wycislo and the chair of the Diocesan Personnel Committee chairman was wrong, but said the timeline of the letter's facts is questionable and the bishop's assertions are exaggerated. Prosser pointed out that in December 1978 he was two weeks away from leaving his prosecutor job to take office in the Wisconsin legislature. "I did not talk about this with my successor," Prosser said. "I thought it had been over for months."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.