Mahony Canceled Milwaukee Appearance before Sanction

By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 6, 2013

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190078341.html

UPDATE: Retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, censured by his successor last week for his handling of the sex abuse crisis there during his tenure, will not speak as planned at a Milwaukee area priests conference in May, organizers said today.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Mahony canceled his appearance weeks ago, along with all of his 2013 commitments, before his sanction and before a local priest called on Archbishop Jerome Listecki to disinvite Mahony in an open letter earlier this week.

Former Vice Chancellor and victim advocate Father James Connell of Sheboygan was responding to the announcement in an archdiocesesan newsletter distributed last week saying Mahony would be among the speakers. Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf attributed the incorrect information to busy schedules and crossed wires.

Instead of Mahony, Connell asked Listecki to instead invite victim-survivors, their familes and friends, advocates, clergy and lay workers hurt by the scandal and others to speak, and that the conference be open to the media.

"Truly, this is a moment to generate hope," said Connell in the letter. "A public accounting of the crisis and ongoing effects of the scandal would generate "optimism for the future of the Catholic Church," he wrote.

Mahony's successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, last week relieved him of all public duties as a result of the release of thousands of pages of documents detailing his and the archdiocese's handling of the sex abuse crisis there for decades. Gomez called the documents "brutal and painful reading" and the behavior detailed there as "terribly sad and evil."

Mahony defended his actions, saying he was ill-equipped to address the growing crisis in his early years and that he'd instituted unprecedented safeguards in the archdiocese as a result. He also criticized Gomez for acting only on the public release of the records, saying he knew their contents when he took over in 2011.

Mahony, a vocal proponent of immigration reform, was scheduled to speak on diversity, alongside local priests and Marquette University professors Fathers Bryan Massingale and Steve Avella.

Local priests said they were open to Connell's idea to create a forum for clergy to hear from victims and advocates, but preferred not to change the focus of the spring event.

"I don't think any of us are opposed to the idea," said Father Dave Cooper of St. Matthias Parish and the Milwaukee Area Priests Alliance. "We just think it would be better at the fall meeting or a separate day altogether."

The Los Angeles records were released late last month as a result of a $660 million settlement with victims in 2007. The archdiocese had aggressively fought the release of the records, and had persuaded a judge to allow partial release blocking out the names of the top officials who responsible for handling the cases. That decision was overturned last month.

Victims attorneys are now accusing the archdiocese of withholding some records and redacting names in violation of the judge's order. Here's a look at the records posted online by the archdiocese.

The public release of church records has been a major objective of victims in Catholic church lawsuits and bankruptcies over the years, including the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy, where attorneys for victims are seeking the release of clergy files and depositions of Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba -- both since retired -- who together handled the archdiocese's sex abuse cases for decades.