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	Civil Suit Names Listecki, 177 Other Catholic Bishops By Joe Orso La Cross Tribune [Wisconsin] October 5, 2006 http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/z01bishopsuit05.txt The family of a Wisconsin man whose 2002 slaying later was linked to a Catholic priest has filed suit against the nation's 178 bishops, including Jerome Listecki, the head of the Diocese of La Crosse. Dan O'Connell and a co-worker were shot to death at O'Connell's Hudson, Wis., funeral home in February 2002. A state court later found the Rev. Ryan Erickson of Superior, Wis., likely committed the murders because O'Connell had uncovered information about the priest molesting children. Erickson committed suicide in December 2004 shortly after police questioned him about the killings. The civil suit by O'Connell's family seeks no money but demands the bishops disclose the names of about 5,000 clergy who were proven or admitted to committing sexual abuse or were credibly accused. Jim Birnbaum, attorney for the La Crosse diocese, called the lawsuit "frivolous." It was served last week. "There is no law, court opinion, statute or regulation that requires what he's asking. On the contrary, there are laws that prohibit us from doing what he's asking," Birnbaum said. "To have our diocese and our bishop, who just came (to La Crosse) in 2005, named in a lawsuit in St. Croix County, which we have no connection to, alleging facts that we have no connection to and no knowledge of, that have nothing to do with child sexual abuse — it's a homicide case — is perhaps the clearest example of what the law defines as frivolous," Birnbaum said. Tom O'Connell, brother of the slain man, said the family wanted to see some good come from the tragedy. They developed a plan to help correct clergy sexual abuse but could not establish a dialogue with the bishops, he said. Tom O'Connell said Listecki, as a voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has a responsibility to make policies that protect children. "They always say it's the priests' fault. They do not hold themselves responsible for anything," Tom O'Connell said. Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who has represented survivors of clergy sex abuse across the country, said the names sought in the suit come from a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice that the bishops conference commissioned in 2002. "They've all published policies that say they're open and transparent," Anderson said. "But none of them have made a full disclosure of that information in a public way." Birnbaum said the La Crosse diocese has had written procedures since the mid-1980s for reporting clergy sexual misconduct. Those were revised and published in 1997, and new procedures have been published since 2003. "I don't know of any institution, public or private, who has gone to the extent of addressing these kinds of issues that the Catholic Church and the Diocese of La Crosse," Birnbaum said. Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com
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