Parishioners who attended Catholic Masses on Sunday
heard a regretful yet hopeful message about the Milwaukee
Archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing, which was announced last week.
On a prerecorded audio CD sent to churches and played Saturday
and Sunday during Masses, Archbishop Jerome Listecki explained the
bankruptcy resulted from costs relating to sexual abuse lawsuits.
Listecki apologized profusely to victims of sexual abuse by clergy
and then called the bankruptcy a chance for the archdiocese to
start fresh.
“While a bankruptcy is a drastic step, it is a process to
develop both resolution and closure,” said Listecki, archbishop for
about one year.
“Like baptism, where we experience a rebirth in the
Lord, our Church and the Archdiocese can and will experience the
same rebirth.”
The Milwaukee Archdiocese is the eighth in the U.S. to seek
bankruptcy protection since the clergy abuse scandal broke in 2002.
Listecki said in the last 20 years the Milwaukee Archdiocese has
paid more than $29 million trying to resolve sexual abuse charges
that have now led to bankruptcy.
“I want to be very clear that this (bankruptcy) reorganization
is happening because priest perpetrators sexually abused minors,
going against everything the church and the priesthood represents,”
Listecki said in the audio played Sunday.
“The actions of the
perpetrators were deplorable and I am ashamed by those actions. I
will never stop praying that the healing power of Jesus Christ in
some way can bring peace and reconciliation into the lives of
victims.”
Listecki said the bankruptcy filing, a process likely to take 12
to 18 months, should allow the archdiocese to fairly compensate
abuse victims while also letting the archdiocese continue essential
functions; the archdiocese will be able to continue conducting its
normal activities while a bankruptcy court approves all non-routine
decisions and expenses.
After hearing Listecki’s message, Racine parishioners at St.
Joseph’s Catholic Church, 1533 Erie St., felt disheartened but
expressed understanding.
“I was surprised but not surprised because of the problems they
are having because of sexual abuse,” said Ginger Wanserski, a
59-year-old health information technician of Caledonia. “I figured
how (else) would they handle the financial part of it?”
Fellow St. Joseph’s parishioner Frank Miles, 50, said he, too,
was unsurprised by the bankruptcy. Instead he was saddened.
“It’s disappointing. What else can it be?” said Miles, of
Racine, a teacher at St. Catherine’s High School, 1200 Park
Ave.
As an area Catholic and a Catholic school teacher, Miles said he
worries the archdiocese bankruptcy could hurt funding for local
parishes and schools.
But Listecki said in his audio message that the bankruptcy does
not mean the archdiocese is going out of business and will not
affect local parishes.
“This filing applies only to the archdiocese. It does not
involve parishes, schools or other church entities like Catholic
hospitals or Catholic charities that are considered separate
corporations under state law,” Listecki said.
He was confident local Catholic organizations would be fine and
that the archdiocese would be, too.
“We place our trust in God,” he said, “and we move forward
knowing he is with us always.”
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