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	Ordination of Owensboro Bishop in Shadow of Protest By Karen Owen-Phelps Courier & Press February 9, 2010 http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/feb/09/ordination-of-bishop-in-shadow-of-protest/ OWENSBORO (KY) -- Two protesters shivered a few steps from the local cathedral in 27-degree weather Sunday to take issue with the new bishop of Western Kentucky. A man walked by and read their signs. "Sick," he said, shaking his head. A motorist pulled up as a TV cameraman interviewed the two protesters from Louisville, Ky. "Why are you giving them publicity?" the motorist demanded. Local Catholics don't seem concerned about the role the Rev. William Medley could have played in responding to the clergy sexual abuse crisis in Louisville. More than 250 people sued the archdiocese there, and the litigation cost the church $30 million in settlements and legal fees. At the time, it was the second-largest settlement in the country between a diocese and abuse survivors and the largest that wasn't covered by insurance. Medley, 57, will be ordained as Western Kentucky's fourth bishop today in a service at the Owensboro Sportscenter. He'll lead a diocese of 32 counties and about 51,000 church members. The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has been questioning Medley's actions while he was clergy personnel director for the Archdiocese of Louisville from 1989 to 1993. Two SNAP members picketed during the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services in front of the diocesan offices next to St. Stephen Cathedral on Sunday. Public reaction has been almost nonexistent, said Jeffery Koenig, a 41-year-old truck driver and one of the plaintiffs in the Louisville lawsuits. Pope Benedict XVI has urged Catholics "to embrace survivors," Koenig said. "I guess that's what we're getting today." Medley could not be reached for comment. The Rev. J. Michael Clark, who has been acting diocesan administrator since the Rev. John McRaith retired a year ago, said critics have been making more of Medley's role in Louisville than they should. "It angers me that this is the focus out of all the good things that are happening," he said. Koenig said SNAP questions Medley's record because members don't want anyone else to go through what they suffered. "We want to be the last survivors of clergy sexual abuse," he said. Clark said Medley performed his role as clergy personnel director "in an exemplary manner." In thousands of documents from the Louisville cases, Medley's name comes up only a few times, Clark said. "That tells me he was not an important player in the grand scheme of things," he said. People need to look at the "whole picture" and at Medley's track record as a priest and pastor, Clark said. "It's overwhelmingly positive," Clark said. "I think he's going to be terrific for us." In a statement to the media Monday, Clark said diocesan leaders have total confidence in Medley's support for national policies that bishops across the country adopted in 2002 to prevent clergy abuse and to deal with accusations. Sister Eula Johnson of Owensboro said she knew Medley when he was a young priest and she was director of youth ministry for the Louisville Archdiocese. "I went to his ordination," said Johnson, who is now on the review board that responds to sexual abuse allegations for the Owensboro Diocese. "I don't have any concerns about Rev. Medley," she said. Kathleen Peters, a licensed marriage and family therapist and local Catholic, said it would be hard to find a bishop in this country who hasn't moved perpetrators around from one ministry position to another without notifying parishioners. She hasn't heard any outrage or dismay from victims in this diocese, Peters said. "I think church members should be concerned, not just because of this particular bishop but because it is a concern in the church. "Parents need to be more alert. ... The system is not conducive to the overall protection," she said.
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