Plaintiffs Ask to See Archdiocese's Papers
By Annysa Johnson
Attorneys for sex abuse victims in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case are asking the court to unseal thousands of pages of documents they say will show the breadth and scope of the sex abuse crisis, and alleged coverup, in the local church over the last half century. At issue is whether the 350 claims filed by clients of attorneys Jeffrey Anderson and Michael Finnegan do or do not detail more than 8,000 individual sex acts and name about 100 suspects - 75 of them priests - not previously identified by the archdiocese, as the two argued at a court hearing this month. The archdiocese has suggested those numbers are misleading and has asked the court for permission to compile statistical information about the claims for the state attorney general's office, which has been asked by lawmakers and victim rights advocates to launch an independent investigation into the abuse allegations. The court is scheduled to take up that motion Wednesday. Anderson argued in documents filed late Monday that the archdiocese's request doesn't go far enough. He asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley to unseal more than 500 claims, with identifying information about victims and previously unidentified suspects redacted; the depositions of Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba, both retired, and defrocked priest Daniel A. Budzynski; and numerous other documents. He also called on the archdiocese to release its own records regarding abuse. "The documents should be turned over to the Wisconsin Attorney General to determine if there are any crimes committed not only by the abusers but also by those that protected them," Anderson said in the filing. The archdiocese issued a statement Tuesday, saying it is committed to protecting the identities of victims who have sought anonymity in the bankruptcy. "Our hope is that the court will allow enough clarification for us to defend the accusations levied against the archdiocese, while protecting the identities of victims who do not deserve to be victimized again," it said. Also Tuesday, members of the advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests delivered a letter asking Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to launch an independent probe of the allegations laid out in the bankruptcy claims. Nine Democratic lawmakers made a similar request earlier this month. "Our concern is there might still be crimes that could be charged, including fraud," said SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely. Both groups have characterized the prospect of 100 previously unidentified alleged offenders as a public safety crisis. The archdiocese has objected, saying only one of the 500-plus claims in the bankruptcy involves an allegation after 2002, and that it turns over all allegations involving living priests to the local district attorney's office. The archdiocese posts on its website the names of 44 diocesan priests with substantiated allegations of sex abuse against them. It does not as a matter of policy name religious order priests, nuns, teachers or others it does not consider its direct employees. Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who just returned from a papal meeting in Rome, issued a letter to local Catholics on Tuesday excoriating the media, lawmakers and plaintiffs' attorneys in the bankruptcy. Listecki said that reports failed to acknowledge the steps the archdiocese has taken to make the church safer, and that media and some lawmakers "will use this opportunity to try and weaken the Church's teaching authority, especially on social issues such as marriage, abortion, workers' rights, health care and religious freedom. "I will not allow that to happen," he said. Kelley is scheduled to hear the archdiocese's request at a hearing Wednesday. Anderson has asked for it to be postponed, so both motions could be argued at the same time.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.