WISCONSIN
Patch
Posted by Charles Gorney (Editor), July 3, 2013
Two priests whose names appear on a list of priests removed or restricted from ministry because of substianted allegations of sexual abuse of minors worked in Port Washington parishes in the 1970s, according to records released Monday.
The release, partly motivated by the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, includes about 6,000 pages of documents — from personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse to depositions of high-ranking archdiocese officials, including former archbishop Timothy Dolan.
Among the names listed are William Effinger, who was temporary administrator of St. Peter of Alcantara in 1979, and Siegfried Widera, who was an associate pastor at St. Mary’s Congregation in the early 1970s.
The documents were selected by the abuse survivor attorneys, archdiocese chief of staff Jerry Topczewski told Patch. Though the records were released as part of a bankruptcy agreement, Topczewski stressed that releasing the files can be part of the healing process for abuse survivors.
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