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News ReleaseApril 3, 2013 Jeff Anderson statement regarding the stipulation to release documents and depositions on sexual abuse in theArchdiocese of Milwaukee Note:  A stipulation agreement was signed and filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin today that provides for the release of documents and depositions on July 1, 2013. Jeff Anderson Statement: “We are pleased with the decision of Archbishop Listecki to release documents and timelines related to clergy sexual abuse of minors by diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  Th…

In a major development in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that it will make public thousands of pages of documents detailing its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades.
The decision – a reversal for the archdiocese – came on the eve of a scheduled hearing at which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley was expected to order the release of at least some of those records, which are under seal.
The release of documents has been a primary objective of victims in the hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases around the country, including the Milwaukee ba…

In a major development in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that it will make public thousands of pages of documents detailing its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades. The decision – a reversal for the archdiocese – came on the eve of a scheduled hearing at which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley was expected to order the release of at least some of those records, which are under seal. The release of documents has been a primary objective of victims in the hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases around the country, including the Milwaukee ba…

The commission will look at religious organisations, state care providers, not-for-profit bodies, as well as child service agencies and police forces and what can be done so that the victims have justice. The commission’s chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, will today provide information on how future private and public hearings will be conducted. The senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, will also deliver an opening statement.Audio: Royal commission set to begin (AM) A spokesman for the royal commission has told AM it is anticipated the commissioners will start holding priv…

A Catholic priest has been temporarily suspended from ministry at two parishes and elementary schools, pending a Wauwatosa police investigation into allegations involving inappropriate contact with a student, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and his religious order confirmed Monday. Father Robert Marsicek was relieved of his duties at Pius X parish in Wauwatosa, Wauwatosa Catholic School and at Mother of Good Counsel parish and school in Milwaukee last week, standard procedure for both the archdiocese and his Milwaukee-based religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, or Salvatorians. Arc…

 A former Palma High School chaplain and teacher has admitted in sworn testimony that he sexually assaulted a Palma student. In a videotaped deposition, the Rev. Gerald Funcheon claimed he molested just one student at Palma and that the boy was his last. The redacted video does not include the names of any of the priest’s alleged victims. Five men have leveled claims that Funcheon molested them when they were students at the school during the Crosier priest’s tenure from 1984 to 1985. Funcheon testified that he did not believe his conduct was perverted or criminal at the time. Though h…

A judge announced Wednesday that he will sentence the Rev. Shawn Ratigan in September, more than a year after the Catholic priest pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. Ratigan pleaded guilty in August to using five girls to produce or attempt to produce child pornography over several years while serving as pastor to congregations in the Northland and St. Joseph. Prosecutors have said they plan to seek a “virtual life sentence” when Ratigan is sentenced Sept. 12. Charges against Ratigan rocked the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, eventually leading to lawsuits filed by families of…

The lawsuit filed by Victim 6 from the Jerry Sandusky case will be allowed to proceed, a federal judge in Philadelphia said Monday. Judge Anita B. Brody denied Penn State’s and The Second Mile’s request to stay the lawsuit filed by the young man Sandusky forced to shower with him in a campus shower in 1998. The decision was the first stay Penn State has lost on a civil suit from an abuse claimant. In her court order, Brody said she ruled against the university and the charity because the young man “has already waited a long time for justice and would be burdened with further delay.” But Br…

Hours before the NCAA men’s basketball tournament ’s first play-in game, three retired professional athletes walked through the doors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the country’s most important sporting event. One, a Hall of Fame ex-Baltimore Oriole, had an idyllic childhood. The other two men, who used to play in the NFL and the NHL, went through hell, unable to admit for years the sexual abuse they suffered as kids. Cal Ripken Jr., Joe Ehrmann and Sheldon Kennedy played different sports. Their careers were as different as their demeanors and speech. But their…

 A former Roman Catholic priest who worked in Sonoma County, Eureka and Sacramento in the 1980s before settling down in Alameda was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting two boys decades ago in his native Ireland. Patrick McCabe, 77, was living in an Alameda condominium when he surrendered in 2010 to U.S. authorities, who then sought his extradition to Ireland. One of his victims, James Moran, who is now 50 and chose to be identified publicly, wrote in a statement to Irish authorities that McCabe “changed the path of my life forever,” and that his life “had bee…