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Feb. 15, 2007
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Archdiocese won’t contest
judge’s order to release records |
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Emphasis continues on implementing
policies that protect youth |
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ST. FRANCIS — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is complying with a California judge’s order that it release 3,000 pages of insurance records and hundreds of pages from its disciplinary files of former archdiocesan priest, Siegfried Widera, according to Kathleen Hohl, spokeswoman for the archdiocese. She said the archdiocese will not contest the Feb. 6 ruling by California Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman that the pages be made public within 30 days, after court-ordered redactions – removal of victim-survivors’ names – have been completed.
In a telephone interview with your Catholic Herald, Hohl said the release of the documents will bring to a conclusion the legal state of the California lawsuits against Widera. In late August, during a mediation session that involved archdiocesan officials, including Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, plaintiffs’ attorneys and insurance company representatives, a settlement was reached in which the victims of Widera and another former archdiocesan priest, Franklyn Becker, received $16.65 million, of which $8.4 million will be paid by insurance providers and $8.25 million will be paid by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
According to Hohl, when the lawsuits were filed in California in 2004, documents were presented from both sides.
“However, the lawsuits and all proceedings ceased when we reached resolution with victims in the fall,” she said.
Hohl noted the documents in question are not new documents.
“I think there is some confusion. Some of these (documents) had been submitted by the archdiocese, the plaintiffs had some. There’s not anything new to it,” she said.
Hohl stressed what is contained in the documents, and the abuse committed by Widera, happened more than 30 years ago.
“Our policies and procedures are different. Our focus is different. Our focus is on how to continue to protect children and young people and work with victim/survivors to reach some resolution,” she said.
“Looking at today, the present and the future, it’s more beneficial to address the issue and continue to be forward looking without minimizing the severity of it.... We’ve worked hard to create and implement policies and procedures that do protect young people; of course we’re always open to how we can continue to do better.”
Widera, who was ordained a priest of the Milwaukee Archdiocese in 1967, was assigned to parishes in Port Washington, West Allis and Delavan. He left Wisconsin in 1981 to live in California. He faced 42 counts of child molestation in the two states when he died in 2003 after jumping to his death from a hotel balcony in Mexico where he had been cornered by law enforcement officials.
Hohl discounted any connection between release of the documents and the pending April challenge before the Wisconsin Supreme Court filed on behalf of Wisconsin victims of Widera.
According to the court’s Web site, in John Doe 1, et al v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, it will look at the question, “Are the plaintiffs’ claims for affirmative misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment and negligent supervision by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee independent causes of action that should not be dismissed under the statute of limitations due to the ‘discovery rule,’ or are the actions barred by this court’s decisions in Pritzlaff v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, (1995), and John BBB Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, (1997)?
Hohl noted that the cases are different because they involve “different individuals and two unique sets of circumstances.”
John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Cat-holic Conference, public policy arm of the state’s bishops, agreed.
As a matter of law, Huebscher said he doesn’t believe the release of the documents could affect the pending case, because the state Supreme Court will be ruling on the basis of an appellate record and the California materials would not be part of that record. |
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