Accused Priest to Appeal Verdict on Breached Seal of Confession

By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 2, 2012

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/145813845.html

A Waukesha County Catholic priest ordered to spend the next year in prayer and penance for indirectly violating the seal of confession is appealing his verdict to the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has confirmed.

Father David Verhasselt of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Mapleton notified the archdiocese that he would be seeking a due-process review by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a step known as an administrative recourse, said Father Paul Hartmann, judicial vicar for the archdiocese.

Verhasselt has been on leave since April 2010 while Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki considered the allegation against him. Listecki notified parishioners of Verhasselt's guilty verdict in March.