Rev. David J. Hanser-Assignment

Rev. David J. Hanser

Summary of Case: Hanser is believed to have sexually abused many boys during his career as a priest. According to SNAP, at least 17 people have come forward as Hanser victims. He was removed from a parish in 1988 after four men, who were brothers, reported that Hanser had sexually abused them as children. The archdiocese then sent him to area hospitals to serve as a chaplain. In a 2009 lawsuit two more brothers from another family accused Hanser of having molested them as children. Hanser was laicized in 2005.

Ordained: 1958

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1958 Milwaukee bishop was Albert Gregory Meyer (Jul.1953-Sept. 1958), replaced by William Edward Cousins (Dec. 1958-Sept. 1977).	1960	Christ the King	Wauwatosa	WI	3/3	Parish had a school with 1,164-1,173 students.
1960	1961	Sacred Heart	Racine	WI	2/2	Parish had a school with 401 students.
1961	1970	Catholic Memorial High School	Waukesha • Hanser was accused in 1988 of having sexually abused four brothers when they were children during this time period. The brothers said he had befriended their family of ten children, and would often invite them to sleep over at his cottage at Moose Lake in Merton, WI. Much of the abuse is said to have occurred at the cottage. One of the brothers was a student at Catholic Memorial, and Hanser was his guidance counselor. (Journal Sentinel Online April 21, 2002)	WI	guidance counselor	School had 851-1,052 students.
		St. Joseph's	Waukesha • According to a 2009 lawsuit, Hanser is said to have molested a boy at this parish, and the boy tried to report it to the archdiocese. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel September 8, 2009)	WI
1970	1972	St. Joseph High School	Kenosha	WI		This assignment is per the Milwaukee archdiocese.
1970	1972?	St. Thomas Aquinas	Kenosha	WI	3/4 In residence.	Hanser is indexed but not listed at this parish in the diocesan pages of the 1972 Official Catholic Directory.
1972 Cousins was replaced as bishop by Rembert George Weakland (Sept. 1977-May 2002).	1978	St. John Vianney's	Brookfield • Another man came forward in the 2000's to report that Hanser sexually assaulted him at St. John Vianney's, when the man was a second grader at the parish school. The (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 14, 2010) He said Hanser came to the classroom looking for a volunteer to help him, and that Hanser took him to the rectory, where the abuse occurred. (WTMJ April 17, 2008)	WI	2/3, 2/2	Parish had a school with 453-481 students.
1978	1982	Holy Family	Whitefish Bay	WI	2/2	Parish had a school with 220-175 students.
1982	1988	St. Mary's	Pewaukee • Two brothers accused Hanser in a 2009 lawsuit of having sexually abused them when they were about 10 and 13 years of age, beginning in 1982, while Hanser was pastor of St. Mary's. They said the abused occurred for several years. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel September 8, 2009)	WI	1/1	Parish had a school with 167-89 students. Hanser was removed from this parish due to accusations by four men from the same family that Hanson sexually abused them as children.
1988	1991					Noted in Directories to be "Awaiting Assignment".
late Feb. 1989	late May 1989	St. Luke's Medical Center	Milwaukee		student in clinical pastoral education	A sister of the brothers who had come forward in 1988 was a nurse at St. Luke's. When she discovered Hanser's presence at St. Luke's in May of 1989, she confronted the head of the pastoral education department. The sister tried to tell Bishop Sklba of her concern, but he did not respond to her phone call.
1991	2002	St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center	Milwaukee	WI	Chaplain	Hanser began as a chaplain at St. Joseph's in 1991, as well as at Elmbrook Memorial Hospital, and at two other hospitals in the Covenant Healthcare System. (Journal Sentinel Online April 21, 2002) He is not listed as such in the Official Catholic Directories for 1991-1994, but is noted to be "Awaiting Assignment", then as on "Special Assignment".
1991		St. Joseph's	Elmbrook	WI	Chaplain
1991	2002	Elmbrook Memorial Hospital	Brookfield	WI	Chaplain	No longer appears in Directories after 2001. Hanser retired in April 2002, after news reports exposed his history of sexual abuse of boys. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel April 23, 2002)
2002	2011					Known in 2004 to be fully restricted from ministry. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [Wisconsin] July 10, 2004) By 2009, at least 17 people had come forward with allegations against Hanser, according to SNAP. (The WTMJ September 6, 2009) Hanser was laicized in 2005. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel September 8, 2009)

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1959-2001).

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy & Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record was last updated March 20, 2012