Sex Abuse Files Date Back to Washburn Parish in 1940s
Duluth News Tribune
[Oswald Krusing] [timeline] Thousands of documents released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday include a long-ago report of an accused priest granted a temporary assignment in Washburn only to reoffend in his new location, a lawyer reviewing the files told the News Tribune and Superior Telegram. Thousands of documents released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday include a long-ago report of an accused priest granted a temporary assignment in Washburn only to reoffend in his new location, a lawyer reviewing the files told the News Tribune and Superior Telegram. “If he is willing to come to Superior to work for a time until he has readjusted himself to the life of a diocesan priest, I shall be happy to receive him,” Bishop William O’Connor of the Diocese of Superior wrote to Milwaukee Archbishop Moses Kiley about the Rev. Oswald Krusing in November 1942. Mike Finnegan, a lawyer with Jeff Anderson and Associates in Minneapolis, said the letters between O’Connor and Kiley suggest the obfuscation used by bishops when writing about abuse. “In English, it’s saying that they need to keep him away from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for some time period,” he said. “We know (there was) one person that contacted the archdiocese in 1996 who reported being abused by Krusing in Superior in the 1940s. They moved him up there on another group of unsuspecting parishioners and kids, where he abused a child after he was up there for a very short amount of time.” While Finnegan said the letters’ dates shows church officials were aware for decades that transferring priests did not prevent criminal acts, an archdiocese official expressed surprise at the lawyer’s interpretation of the correspondence. “I don’t know of any allegations in Superior. That doesn’t ring a bell with me,” said Jerry Topczewski, the Milwaukee Archdiocese chief of staff. “He would have been in Superior prior to any allegation coming to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,” Topczewski continued, saying the first accusation was in 1947, according to a timeline of the case prepared by Anderson’s law office. “I think that Mike Finnegan did most of (the work on the timeline).” The timeline states: “7/9/96: Sexual abuse intake report indicating that a survivor was abused by Krusing in 1943-1944 when they were 12-13 years old at St. Louis Parish in Washburn (Diocese of Superior).” Between 1947 and 2004, the timeline lists many other allegations. It also documents numerous transfers of Krusing, who retired in 1970 and died in 1995, to different Milwaukee-area parishes after returning to the archdiocese. The priest’s file is among about 6,000 pages of documents the Archdiocese of Milwaukee released as part of a deal reached in federal bankruptcy court with clergy sex abuse victims suing it for fraud. Victims say the archdiocese transferred problem priests to new churches without warning parishioners and covered up priests’ crimes for decades. The documents have drawn attention in part because of the involvement of former Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is now a cardinal and the archbishop of New York, as well as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The records provide new details on payments made to some abusers to leave the priesthood and the transfer of nearly $57 million for cemetery care into a trust as the archdiocese prepared to file for bankruptcy. Along with Krusing, at least two others of the 42 priests whose files were released had ties to the Northland. The Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who died in 1998, was reassigned to the Superior Diocese in 1974 after allegations that he molested as many as 200 boys over 20 years at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wis. His case captured international attention in 2010 when records showed then-Pope Benedict XVI — or at least his immediate subordinate in his previous role as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger — was made aware of an attempt to cover up Murphy’s record. In another case, the Rev. James Beck received a $25,000 settlement to leave the priesthood after being accused of molesting a student identified only as “he” during a camping trip to Ladysmith, Wis. Beck accepted the settlement offer made by Dolan. Also, the files show the Rev. Frederick Bistricky allegedly molested boys while on summer trips to northern Wisconsin, including Vilas County. The file release comes after victims and their attorneys accused Dolan of bankruptcy fraud, pointing to a June 2007 letter in which the archbishop told a Vatican office that moving the money into a trust would provide “an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” Church law requires bishops to seek Vatican approval for any property sale or asset transfer in the millions of dollars. Dolan wrote in the letter that the transfer had been approved by archdiocese’s Financial Council and College of Consultors. A Vatican office approved the transfer within a month. Lawyer Anderson compared that to the long lag in responses to defrock abusive priests. “These documents show that if they want to move money to protect it from survivors they can act quick as a fox,” Anderson said. “If they want to protect kids, if they have full knowledge of kids in peril, they keep it secret while the Vatican drags its feet and children are kept at peril.” In a statement, Dolan called any suggestion he was trying to shield money from victims an “old and discredited” attack. Topczewski, who serves under current Archbishop Jerome Listecki, said the money was always set aside in a separate fund for cemetery care and moving it to a trust just formalized that. Peter Isely, Midwest director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he would ask the U.S. attorney’s office in Milwaukee to look into the possibility of bankruptcy fraud. However, Marquette University law professor Ralph Anzivino, a bankruptcy specialist, said no criminal charges could be filed unless the bankruptcy judge determined the transfer amounts to fraud. The documents also show that Dolan repeatedly wrote to Vatican officials, pleading with them to dismiss priests accused of abuse but often was left waiting for years for a response. One of those cases involved the Rev. John C. Wagner, who was accused of making advances to students at the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan when he was in campus ministry in the 1980s. Both Dolan and his predecessor, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, tried to get Wagner to voluntarily leave the priesthood, including offering him payment, but Wagner refused. In one instance, Dolan waited three years for a response from the Vatican on the matter. Wagner eventually was defrocked in 2012. Topczewski said the archdiocese had had a practice of paying priests leaving the priesthood for years before Dolan took over. Most of them were not accused of wrongdoing, and the money helped them transition into their new lives, he said. Topczewski said the money covered the men’s health care, but it also got “priests out quicker. That’s what victims were asking for.”
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