BishopAccountability.org
	Bishop of Superior Misled Catholics about Millions in Abuse Costs By Peter Isely SNAP-Great Plains June 30, 2010 http://mnsnap.wordpress.com/bishop-of-superior-misled-catholics-about-millions-in-abuse-costs/ Bishop of Superior misled Catholics about millions in abuse costs Time for a fraud investigation in Raphael Fliss’s tenure as bishop Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director CONTACT: 414.429.7259 One of the more revealing facts uncovered today by the Duluth Telegram investigation of Fr. Tom Erickson, a priest pedophile the diocese cut loose without notifying police and warning parishes in 1989, is that Bishop Raphael Fliss could not “remember” the 3 million dollar settlement at the time with two victims of Erickson. This is the first time the public is learning of this settlement, which must have been one of the largest of its kind in the United States. (Link to today’s story: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/172605/group/News/ ). Yet, in 2004 Fliss wrote in an open letter to Catholics of the diocese, after the release of numbers he gave auditors hired by the American bishops related to sexual abuse (link to full letter: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/usccb/natureandscope/dioceses/superiorwi.htm ): “The cost of clergy sexual misconduct to the church in northern Wisconsin these five decades has been significant. The diocese made financial settlements to victims of sexual abuse for $60,000 while insurance paid $482,000. Legal costs and attorney fees paid by the diocese amounted to $15,707 while insurance carriers paid $57,230. It should be noted that all of the financial settlements to victims are attributed to one priest who sexually abused four different children between 1981 and 1983. Since February of 1983, the diocese has not been required to make any additional settlements. However, the diocese also expended a total of $200,000 for the medical treatment of two priests for psychosocial problems prior to any known incidents of sexual misconduct by these priests.” That written statement to Catholics by Fliss appears to be misleading, if not false. The Erickson settlement reported on today occurred in 1989. It is not even referenced in this “open” letter, written by Fliss to Catholics as a sign of the diocese transparency and honesty. Previous reports to the church auditors, therefore, are equally suspect and raises questions about how many offenders have surfaced in that diocese over the past several decades and how much money was actually applied to conceal the activities of these offenders. Virtually every priest offender that has come to the attention of the public from the Superior diocese, such as the notorious double murderer Ryan Erickson, has been accompanied by similar misrepresentations of what actually occurred. It was Fliss, after all, who oversaw the concealment the crimes of Fr. Lawrence Murphy, who assaulted 200 deaf boys in a Milwaukee boarding school and was then transferred to the Superior diocese to minister and work there without restriction or notification until his death in 1998. The case has now received international attention, it’s paper trail leading to the Vatican and the offices of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. What other money has mysteriously exited the diocese of Superior, one wonders, over the years? What creative “accounting” practices were deployed to hide a 3 million dollars and other secret payouts? Isn’t it time for a fraud investigation into Fliss’s handling of church money during his nearly 25 year tenure?
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