WISCONSIN
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record
Summary of Case: A Green Bay diocesan priest, Feeney has been accused of sexually abusing many children, male and female, throughout his career. At least 12 have come forward. He was moved among 18 parishes in the diocese within 30 years. In 1978 the parents of two young teenage brothers reported to diocesan officials and police that Feeney had molested their boys. The parents dropped the charges when the diocese told them the problem would be taken care of. In 1979 two mothers went to law enforcement officials with complaints about Feeney, but were persuaded by a prosecutor not to press charges. In 1983 Green Bay bishop Wycislo told Feeney that unless he found a job in another diocese he would face going to treatment, or prosecution. Feeney found work as a priest in San Diego, CA and Las Vegas, NV parishes, and in Nevada prisons. He was removed from ministry in 1986 after being accused of smuggling drug paraphernalia and women’s underwear into a Nevada prison in exchange for sex with prisoners. Feeney was arrested in 2002 for the 1978 sexual assaults of the two young brothers in Wisconsin. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Feeney was defrocked by the Vatican in 2005. He was released from prison to a Wisconsin halfway house in Nov. 2011, and is a registered sex offender.
Ordained: 1952
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