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	Clergy Sex Abuse Victims Call on Lawmaker to Explain Communion Remark By Annysa Johnson Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 6, 2010 http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/92971904.html Victims of Catholic clergy sex abuse are calling on Wisconsin Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) to explain a remark a lobbyist claims he made in a discussion regarding the now-dead Child Victims Act legislation, saying it suggests Sullivan believed he could be denied the sacrament of communion if he supported the measure. Sullivan has not responded to reporters' questions about the statement, which was referenced in a December e-mail and made public late last month by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Victims are also asking Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who has said publicly that he would consider the denial of communion for public officials in extreme cases, to vow in writing that he would not use it to block legislation beneficial to abuse victims. The e-mail by Joseph Strohl, chief lobbyist for the Wisconsin trial lawyers association, said he'd talked to Sullivan - who sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee - about the bill, but that Sullivan opposed it, adding: "As he said, 'he still takes communion every Sunday' and wants to be able to keep doing that." A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which opposed the legislation, said no bishop or member of the church's lobbying group, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, has ever spoken to Sullivan about denying him communion if he supported the measure. "It is a ridiculous statement and any reporting on it without Senator Sullivan as the source of the comment is, at best, irresponsible," said Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Listecki. The Child Victims Act would have eliminated the statute of limitations on future sex abuse lawsuits involving child victims and opened a three-year window for past victims, including those of Catholic clergy previously blocked by state courts, to file suits. It stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, essentially killing it for the second time in two legislative sessions. A number of organizations, including the Catholic Church and the Wisconsin Council of Churches, opposed the measure, saying it could bankrupt faith communities. Victims argued that clergy abuse represents only a small fraction of abuse cases and that church opposition to the bill blocked a legal remedy for all other victims.
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