Court Filing Shows That Archbishop Listecki Misled Hundreds of Survivors about Intent of Bankruptcy

SNAP Wisconsin
February 7, 2012

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After promising "all" victims restitution in federal court Achdiocese will ask judge at Thursday hearing to throw out 95% of the 550 plus victim claims filed

Whether or not a claimant was raped or sexually assaulted by a cleric "does not matter", according to Archdiocese

If church lawyers are successful dozens of newly identified offenders, depositions of top church officials, and tens of thousands of pages of abuse documents will likely remain secret

Sex abuse crisis will "deepen" and remain "totally unresolved" in Archdiocese, leaving children at risk, victims and advocates say

WHAT

Survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, joined by Fr. James Connell, current Vice Chancellor of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, will hold a sidewalk press conference discussing the newest strategy being employed by church lawyers to block the examination and release of yet more evidence and documentation concerning the widespread and systematic abuse of children. Much of that evidence is now contained in the over 550 plus direct reports of child sex crimes now filed with the federal bankruptcy judge in Milwaukee.

On Thursday, at the instruction of Archbishop Jerome Listecki—who was ordered by the court to urge victims to come forward as a condition of filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy 9 months ago—church lawyers will ask the court to dismiss 95% of the victim claims, all of which contain names of offenders, details of thousands of sex crimes, and the names of church officials and others to whom the abuse was likely reported.

The group will also release a letter, emailed this morning to Archbishop Listecki by Connell, on behalf of victims, urging the archbishop to explain why he is instructing his attorneys to embark on this reported plan of action.

Connell and other priests joined with victims in December in making a public appeal to victims of clergy sexual abuse and asking them to come forward before the bankruptcy bar date. The appeal, in the form of a full page advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, provided victim/survivors with resources in the community designed to assist them in filing a confidential claim with the court.

WHEN

Tuesday, February 7th, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse located at 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee.

WHO

Victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Milwaukee, their supporters, and SNAP leaders, including the longtime Midwest Director Peter Isely, will join Fr. Jim Connell, victim advocate and the Vice Chancellor of the archdiocese of Milwaukee.

WHY

On Thursday in Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Susan V. Kelley will hear arguments concerning motions filed by lawyers for the archdiocese of Milwaukee which, if successful, will likely dismiss 95 percent of the 550 plus claims filed over the past nine months by clergy sexual abuse survivors seeking restitution from federal court for the crimes committed against them as children, and hold accountable church officials who fraudulently concealed and transferred known child sex offenders.

The motion, filed at the direction of Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who is himself a lawyer, does not dispute that the hundreds of claimants were sexually assaulted as children by clergy in the archdiocese. It will argue, instead, that the cases should be dismissed because the crimes now fall outside of the state's statute of limitations on fraud. Listecki's attorneys will also contend that claimants who participated in the archdiocese's mediation system, even if fraudulently induced to settle, should be barred from filing a claim with the court.

Attorneys for the 550 victims will argue that the Archdiocese declared chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to stop the release of documents and depositions of church officials which would prove that victims were defrauded. Those documents and testimony contain specific dates when the archdiocese or an official from the archdiocese knew that a particular cleric was a danger to children. With the release of that information, hundreds of victims and families were potentially eligible to file civil fraud cases within the current statute of limitations.

When Archbishop Jerome Listecki announced that the archdiocese would seek the protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in January of last year, the declaration of bankruptcy effectively halted all current and pending lawsuits and discovery that was underway, including the scheduled deposition of former auxiliary bishop Richard Sklba. Sklba was, according to former Archbishop Rembert Weakland, the "go to guy" on all abuse cases in the archdiocese for decades.

Having stopped Sklba's deposition and further court discovery, Listecki then announced that bankruptcy would be a "final call" for all victims of clergy sexual abuse to come forward to the court, file a claim, and receive assistance. As the Communications Director for the archdiocese, Julie Wolf stated: "the archdiocese will ask all victims to come forward…one of our goals is that all victims are compensated equitably".

Within nine months, over 550 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, a record number for a U.S. diocese, filed claims for restitution with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. These claims contain detailed reports of child sex crimes by dozens of sex offenders who have worked or who may be working and living in the Archdiocese, including information about sexual predators who have never been publicly identified to the community.

CONTACT

Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director, 414.429.7259

John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director, 414.336.8575

Mike Sneesby, SNAP Milwaukee Director, 414.915.4374

Fr. Jim Connell, Vice-Chancellor of archdiocese, 414.940.8054

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy sexual abuse victims, founded in 1987 with over 10,000 members in 97 chapters. Visit the Wisconsin chapter at SNAPwisconsin.com