IL - Abusive Priest Wins Court Ruling, SNAP Responds

By Barbara Blaine
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
December 19, 2012

http://www.snapnetwork.org/il_abusive_priest_wins_court_ruling_snap_responds

It’ll be a merry Christmas for a convicted child molesting Catholic priest. He gets to keep both his secrets and his pay. For the second time this month, a judge has ruled in favor of Fr. Kenneth Martin. First, he was allowed to keep his personnel records private. And yesterday, he was awarded his paycheck.

Both decisions come from a federal court after the Diocese of Wilmington’s bankruptcy plan had been heard in bankruptcy court. Though he worked twice in Chicago (in 2003 and 2008), Fr. Martin is originally from Delaware. In 2001, however, he pled guilty in Maryland to molesting a boy.

Now that the facts won’t come out in court, Chicago Catholics deserve to hear the whole story about this recklessness from the Cardinal himself. Sadly, it’s more likely that he will keep quiet and the full truth will remain hidden.

In February 2003, the Chicago Sun Times disclosed that Martin “has stayed at the cardinal's mansion on North State Parkway about one week a month since last May.”

In the wake of the controversy, George publicly promised Fr. Martin “won’t be coming back to Chicago.”  But in 2008, even after the Vatican barred him from presenting himself as a priest, the Sun Times again found Fr. Martin working for the archdiocese.

Making matters worse, Fr. Martin has also been deceptive about his case. In March of 2003, Fr. Martin told the Sun Times that the Delaware court “had determined there was no guilt." Yet he was publicly admonished by the prosecutor who tried him, Stephen Roscher, who said "that is not correct, [Martin] admitted his guilt.... These are not allegations. These are crimes."

Yet despite these crimes, Fr. Ken Martin and other abusive priests from within the Diocese of Wilmington will continue to receive their pay as the diocese goes forward with its bankruptcy plan. Despite the fact that Fr. Martin has been dishonest about his criminal past, he will continue to have his records shrouded in secrecy. Despite the fact that this all seems so wrong, this is what is happening.