By Jesse Bogan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 15, 2011
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_39f5a2c8-078d-529d-8c40-c06c841b2409.html
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ST. LOUIS • Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Braxton says he will ask the Illinois Supreme Court to reconsider the May 25 denial to hear an appeal involving a $5 million civil jury award in a sexual abuse case against a disgraced priest in the Diocese of Belleville.
The move further delays the victim from being financially compensated for the abuse.
"There are times when it is very difficult for me as your bishop to determine the best course of action," Bishop Braxton wrote in a letter released Friday that is to be read to congregations in Southern Illinois this weekend. "This is one of those times."
He said that offenses by priests continue to have "moral, emotional, legal and financial consequences in the present."
"We are not doing this to 'hide behind the law' as some might suggest," he said. "We are doing this in the hope of a clarification of the law and a consistency in applying the law to the Catholic Church. We are also doing it in the hope of conserving resources for responding to other abuse victims and for sustaining the pastoral services of the Diocese of Belleville."
The 2002 St. Clair County suit stems from allegations by James Wisniewski, now in his early 50s, who claimed the Rev. Raymond Kownacki sexually abused him as a child in the 1970s. Since the 2008 verdict, the $5 million judgment has grown by another $1.35 million with interest.
Wisniewski's attorney, Mike Weilmuenster, said the bishop's latest position is 'sad and pathetic."
"When is the diocese abuse of Jim Wisniewski going to cease?" he said.
The Southern Illinois Association of Priests also said it was "deeply upset" by the announcement. Interest on the judgment is $1,233 a day. Publicity, perhaps, is more costly.
"The diocese has endured public shame, and lost a well-deserved reputation by re-victimizing sex abuse victims and again scandalizing people of faith throughout southern Illinois," the group said in a prepared statement. "Our local church now faces financial ruin, causing a significant decrease in much needed pastoral ministries."
Kownacki was removed from the ministry in 1995 after abuse allegations began to surface. A former housekeeper accused him of raping, beating and performing an abortion on her in the 1970s. That case, which alleged Kownacki was quietly shuffled between parishes, was dismissed after the state Supreme Court ruled that it exceeded the statute of limitations.
A third case was filed against him in 2003 by a man identified as John Doe, who as a boy mowed the parish lawn at St. Theresa's Catholic Church and School in Salem, Ill., where Kownacki was pastor from 1979 to 1986. That case was settled in 2009 for $1.2 million.
A recent address for Kownacki showed him living in Dupo. Earlier this week, the apartment was empty. Neighbors said the man who had lived there had kept to himself and recently moved away.
Two more cases are pending that allege Kownacki sexually abused young boys who are now grown men.
Contact: jbogan@post-dispatch.com
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