By Chris Hubbuch and Anne Jungen
LaCrosse Tribune
June 18, 2010
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_37c3ccc6-7a93-11df-a0fa-001cc4c03286.html
[Connell letter]
[Diocese statement]
[Archdiocese statement]
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A Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accuses the La Crosse diocese of refusing to change a policy that places an abnormally high burden of proof on those alleging sexual abuse by priests.
The Rev. James Connell says children might be at risk because the diocese is using a policy that goes beyond standards established in 2003 for determining when allegations against priests and deacons merit further investigation.
Connell, of Sheboygan, said he decided to publish his allegations in a 10-page letter sent Thursday to religious and secular media after three months of attempts to work with local and national church officials were unfruitful.
"Nobody argues with me about what I'm saying," he said. "But nothing has happened. ... I cannot in good conscience continue to keep quiet."
Milwaukee Archbishop James Listecki, who was bishop in La Crosse from 2005 through early this year, said in a prepared statement that he had assured Connell no child was at risk because of diocese policies and that diocese leadership and the review board have re-examined past cases.
In the same statement, Bishop-designate William Callahan said one of his priorities after his August installation in La Crosse will be to make sure the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People is effectively implemented and that he is committed to ensuring no priest with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse ever serves in public ministry.
Since 2001, there have been no allegations of sexual abuse of a child brought against a clergy member, said Jim Birnbaum, the diocese's attorney. Since 2003, 10 priests have been accused by adults of abusing them as children. Of those, Birnbaum said, nine were against priests who had died or were no longer in the ministry. The other complaint was not sufficiently confirmed.
At least four of those nine complaints were forwarded to Rome, Birnbaum said.
Monsignor Richard Gilles, acting head of the Diocese of La Crosse, wrote in a May 11 letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' National Review Board that the diocese review board rejected Connell's claim that an inappropriate standard of proof is being used.
Gilles compared Connell's claims to those of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"Father Connell's statements are careless and insulting," Gilles wrote. "They appeared to be of the nature which we have grown to expect from the irresponsible public utterances of SNAP."
A ‘clear violation of church norms'
Connell said he became concerned in March when Listecki met with the archdiocese review board, which investigates sexual abuse allegations. As a member of that board, Connell checked the diocese website to see the "norms" used by its review board.
What he read disturbed him.
The standard, established in 2003 by then Bishop Raymond Burke to guide the board in determining whether to forward allegations to church authorities in Rome, was "moral certitude which excludes every prudent doubt or every doubt founded on positive reasons," rather than the mere "semblance of truth" that Connell says is outlined in church law.
That, Connell says, could mean the review board failed to forward cases to Rome.
"Father Connell raises very serious issues," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "The La Crosse norms are in clear violation of church norms."
Moral certitude is required at the end of the process, not the beginning, said Reese, who knows of no other diocese or archdiocese requiring it at the onset of an investigation.
Reese called it "disturbing" that the norms were drawn up by Burke, who now heads the Vatican's highest court.
Connell recommended that the diocese drop the moral certitude standard and reprocess all abuse charges handled under it. But he said three months after contacting Listecki and Gilles, nothing has happened.
Listecki said he told Connell that the new bishop would examine diocese policy to determine whether changes were needed.
Connell insists Gilles could get permission from church leaders to change the policy immediately.
"Given what's going on with the church (sexual abuse) crisis," Connell said, "I would think Rome would say go ahead, change the policy."
'An incredible amount of courage'
Connell, who is 67 and entered the seminary after a career as an accountant, holds advanced degrees in church law and serves as a priest at two parishes in Sheboygan and is on the review board of the archdiocese.
In October, Connell was the target of accusations by SNAP that in the 1990s he was involved in a cover up regarding Lawrence Murphy, a priest accused of molesting as many as 200 boys between 1950 and 1974 at a school for the deaf.
Connell denies the allegation but said later that day, after visiting a child in the hospital, he had a revelation: "What if I had ever been a victim? What would I be like today?"
The next month, he met for two hours with SNAP leaders Peter Isely and John Pilmaier.
"It was a chance for him to find out what our lives were like," Pilmaier said. "It's obvious in that letter he took it to heart."
During that meeting, Isely referred to a statistic about the La Crosse diocese: 60 percent of allegations against priests were found to be unsubstantiated. It was a figure Connell heard again in March when he met with Listecki.
"When Archbishop Listecki and Peter Isely mention the same statistic," Connell wrote, "I take note."
Though SNAP previously accused Connell of maintaining church secrecy, the group praised him Thursday.
"This is something we've waited for for a very long time," Pilmaier said. "He's the first priest I'm aware of who's come out publicly to stand with survivors. ... It must have taken him an incredible amount of courage."
Connell said although he expects Listecki "is not very happy with me," he was morally obliged to bring his concern to public attention and empowered by church law to do so.
He emphasized something he learned in his meeting with SNAP: "Truth, the whole truth, is going to be key to healing."
Chris Hubbuch chubbuch@lacrossetribune.com and Anne Jungen ajungen@lacrossetribune.com
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