Victims Call on Listecki to Atone in Court As Well As Special Mass

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
March 29, 2012

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/144908165.html

Hours before Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki is scheduled to prostrate himself before the altar at a special Mass of Atonement for the church’s sins in the sex abuse crisis, victim advocates are calling on Listecki to show true remorse by agreeing to unseal documents and depositions in its bankruptcy case that lawyers say would shed light on the scope of the crisis in southeastern Wisconsin.

“Atonement, if it is genuine, means that you must first stop hurting victims right now and covering up right now,” victim-survivor Michael Sneesby, Milwaukee director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement.

SNAP said it would be emailing its request to Listecki, and members and that members and supporters would gather outside St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, 1025 S. 7th Ave. in West Bend, before the 7 p.m. Mass.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese did not immediately comment, saying she’d just received SNAP’s statement and hadn’t had a chance to read it.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley is scheduled to hear arguments next Thursday on a motion by victims’ attorneys to unseal the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, retired Bishop Richard Sklba and defrocked priest Daniel A. Budzynski, who is believed to have molested several children, along with related documents.

The archdiocese’s attorneys have objected. The legal arguments cannot be determined for either side because they, too, are sealed in accordance with a protective order issued by Kelley to protecting the identities of victims and some previously unidentified suspected offenders.

Victim attorney Jeffrey Anderson said in a hearing this month that the release of documents would shed light on the scope of the crisis in southeastern Wisconsin.