Listecki Accused of Misleading Lawmakers

According to Eau Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki didn't tell the truth to legislators when he explained the La Crosse Diocese notification policy for clergy sexual abuse allegations.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Eau Claire police chief is accusing Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki of being untruthful to lawmakers about the notification procedure for clergy sex abuse allegations in the La Crosse Diocese, where he previously served as bishop.

In a development that victims' advocates say is related, a La Crosse priest has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman he was counseling through a divorce, months after the diocese investigated and found no credible evidence supporting her accusations.

In a Jan. 22 letter to state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, Eau Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik takes issue with a La Crosse Diocese policy that directs those with accusations of clergy sex abuse involving children to notify the diocese - rather than civil authorities, as directed by some dioceses.

According to Matysik, Listecki told Erpenbach during a Jan. 12 Senate Judiciary hearing that the policy was not current, saying, "If you take a look at the statement, that's not something that is happening now."

Matysik said the policy has remained unchanged, only substituting Diocesan Administrator Monsignor Richard Gilles' name as the point of contact for Listecki's, who took over as Milwaukee's archbishop in January.

In the letter to Erpenbach, Matysik said: "Senator Erpenbach, I carefully reviewed the interchange between you and Archbishop Listecki and it is clear that Archbishop Listecki's response was untruthful."

In an interview Thursday, Matysik said about Listecki: "He either misunderstood the question or misled the committee."

For more than a year, Matysik has been trying to get the La Crosse Diocese to change the statement, which appeared in the La Crosse Catholic Times as recently as late January.

"Archbishop Listecki appears more interested in protecting the organization than he is in protecting children," he said.

...La Crosse Diocese attorney James Birnbaum said the diocese's notification policy has been vetted by auditors and law enforcement officials on its sex abuse review board and made available to prosecutors in the diocese's 19 counties, and that no one but Matysik has taken issue with it. He said the policy lets the diocese respond more quickly to protect children, and that it turns over all allegations involving children immediately to civil authorities as required by law.

"We've never failed to report (child sex abuse) immediately to authorities," he said.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese's notification statement, which is posted on its Web site at www.archmil.org, directs those with complaints of sexual abuse involving victims younger than age 18 to notify civil authorities.

The latest sex abuse charge in La Crosse, against the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine, a visiting priest from Guyana, involves an adult, for which there is no state requirement to notify civil authorities. But it illustrates the concerns raised by victim advocates who say the La Crosse Diocese, where Listecki served as bishop from 2005 until 2009, sides overwhelmingly with priests over victims.

Donkor-Baine, 47, is accused of indecently touching a 47-year-old woman and forcing her to touch him in August while they sat in a vehicle in the Town of Shelby, according to the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department.

Donkor-Baine, who is free on a $250 signature bond, is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 11 in La Crosse County Circuit Court on a charge of fourth-degree sexual assault.

La Crosse County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Papenfuss said the woman first reported the incident to the diocese, but it dismissed the allegations as not credible.

Birnbaum denied that characterization in an interview Thursday but was quoted in the La Crosse Tribune as saying "sufficient evidence did not exist to confirm the woman's story. There were no other like or similar allegations ever made."

A letter from Listecki to the woman in December said he needed a "sufficient amount of corroborating evidence to proceed" and could not "conclusively determine what happened," but the diocese has taken steps to limit and monitor the priest's activities.

A study for the U.S. Conference of Bishops found that the La Crosse Diocese sided with priests over victims in 64% of cases, compared with the national average of just less than 10%.

"This is a real-time illustration of what we've been trying to bring forward about the problem up there," Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said of the charges against Donkor-Baine. "The bishop is instructing Catholics to report sex crimes to him. That's what this woman did, and this is what happened."

Don't we all know what to do when a sexual assault has occurred?

Report it to the police. This isn't a gray area. If you or someone you know has been victimized, what would you do?

Go to authorities immediately.

Why would a victim or the parent/guardian of a victim of clergy abuse not call the police?

Sexual assault is sexual assault.

I really don't understand why anyone would take a different course of action. What's with this notifying the diocese rather than civil authorities?

That's crazy. Who would fail to report the crime to police?

I'm Catholic. I don't care what a diocesan policy might suggest. There is no way I would personally behave in such an irresponsible manner and allow a sexual assault to go unreported to civil authorities.

This is black and white, right and wrong. It's so clear to me.

On it's 10:00 PM newscast, TMJ4's Charles Benson covered the story of the accusations being leveled against Listecki.

Video here.


On TMJ4's website, the story appears with the headline, "Listecki at Center of Cover Up Claim."

Benson begins:

Is the Catholic church still trying to cover up sex abuse allegations by priests?

That would be a terribly stupid move, wouldn't it?

Given the Church's sex abuse scandal and all the pain suffered by victims and the betrayal experienced by Church members, not to mention the financial cost of dealing with the abuse cases, are we really to believe that there's a current effort to cover up?

It would be asking for a lawsuit. It would be inexcusable.

Benson reports:

When Jerome Listecki was Bishop in La Crosse he encouraged catholics to notify the diocese not law enforcement about sex abuse allegations.

So when a 47 year old woman complained last fall about being sexually assaulted by a priest she got a letter from Listecki that read, "We have carefully considered your concerns," but "...I cannot conclusively determine what happened." The woman later went to police and the priest was arrested.

Again, why didn't this ADULT go to the police right away?

"Yeah, that would trouble me," said Tammy Klein.

"It demonstrates how these cases are not being turned over to police," said Snap's Midwest Director Peter Isely.

The clergy sex abuse victim's advocate says the La Crosse case sends a wrong message.

"You can see here how things have simply not changed," said Isely.

The policy in Milwaukee is to report sex abuse allegations to police but Listecki is coming under fire for how he handle the La Crosse case.

"Why not just publicly say just go to the local authorities?" asked state Senator Jon Erpenbach.

Lawmakers questioned Archbishop Listecki about the La Crosse policy last month and he seemed to suggest law enforcement would be called.

In the report, Benson doesn't speak to anyone explaining or defending Listecki's actions or La Crosse policy.

Benson says that Listecki was not available for comment.

As a result, the report is very one-sided.

If Archbishop Listecki lied when he testified, that's extremely disturbing. We don't have all the facts. He hasn't stated his position.

That doesn't stop TMJ4 from appearing to rush to judgment and smear Listecki and the Catholic Church.

Isley says, "You can see here how things have simply not changed."

If that's the case, it's horrible. If the Church hasn't changed and is still trying to protect criminal priests, that's unconscionable.

What about victims, particularly an adult alleged victim, of clergy abuse? I would hope there would be change on their part.

A 47-year-old woman certainly should have known how to react to a sexual assault. She's not a child. She should have notified police right away. Why talk to anyone at the diocese? Let the police take care of it.

Her failure to go to the police immediately is bizarre. It's nuts. It doesn't make sense.

If Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine stole the woman's purse or broke into her home, would she call police then? I hope so.

Good grief.

If you know of a sexual assault, if a crime has been committed, report it.

There would be no question in my mind what I should do. None. End of story.

I don't get the behavior on the part of this victim.