CathNewsUSA reports:
Retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland has admitted that he returned sexually abusive priests to active ministry without telling parishioners because he knew they wouldn't be accepted otherwise.-Complete report at TheNorthwestern
"No parish would have accepted a priest unless you could say that he has gone through the kind of psychological examination and that he's not a risk to the parish," Archbishop Weakland said in a portion of a videotaped deposition released Wednesday.
The Northwestern reports that Weakland gave the deposition in June to a lawyer representing seven men and women who claim they were assaulted by priests. The cases are expected to go to trial next summer.
Lawyer Jeffery Anderson released the videotape after the Archdiocese of Milwaukee argued last month that the deaths of key people involved covering up sexual abuse made it difficult to get a fair trial and a loss could bankrupt the archdiocese.
Anderson said Wednesday the trial would be fair because Weakland's testimony proved a cover-up existed.
Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski reiterated Wednesday the difficulty of investigating cases where many of the principle figures have since died.
"We'll probably never have a real complete picture of what happened because we'd never be able to ask the people involved," he said. "Regardless, our priority has been and continues to be, how can we best reach out to those who were abused and achieve some resolution."
In the deposition, Weakland said he never reported suspected abuse while in office and never directly asked accused priests whether the allegations were true. He also said he never discussed what he knew about the sexual abuse with his successor, Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
He returned sexually abusive priests to active ministry without telling parishioners because he knew they wouldn't be accepted otherwise.
ReplyDeleteDuh! That was a tough one huh, of course they wouldn’t be accepted and for good reason.
They should have been prosecuted and released from service.
In my opinion, he's a conspirator to any abuse that occured as a result of his placement.
Being a survivor I wonder how thinking like that can be. Their is no anger toward or judgment toward people like Archbishop Weakland, that is in God's hands, only sadness that he would not know the life long suffering these acts bring.
ReplyDeleteWe need more honesty by the institution and greater efforts to eradicate the travesty of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
ReplyDeleteWhy do even good clergy who know about sexual abuse by other priests & bishops still refuse to speak up about it? This question is vital for the protection of children.
The clerical system of our church produces and protects a certain number of sexually active clergy, some of whom abuse minors.
How can the laity break open this scarlet bond of secrecy inculcated within the clerical system, supported by the bishops and superiors for fear of systemic or personal exposure?
Are the clergy caught in a system that demands cover up at any cost to save themselves from scandal?
Must we continue to rely on the victims of clerical sexual abuse to come forward and painfully tell their stories to raise our awareness of this abusive system?
ptg
"Lawyer Jeffery Anderson...argued last month that... a loss could bankrupt the archdiocese."
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like that archdiocese *should* go bankrupt and admit that it's been out of business for quite some time.
Since when is "Wah! I don't want to be punished!" a legitimate defense?