Is the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese still covering up cases of sexual abuse? Is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel still aiding this effort by barely reporting the issue? It certainly seems that way.
Consider the case of Sister Norma Giannini, who pleaded no contest last week to molesting two teenage boys at St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Milwaukee in the 1960s. The fact that a nun was involved should have made it very newsworthy, but the Journal Sentinel buried the story in the Metro section, and left out the cover-up by the archdiocese.
The story had no comments from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which sent out a press release noting that court records show Giannini confessed the abuse to the archdiocese more than a decade ago, and the written confession was kept in a secret church file. Church officials also chose not to refer Giannini to law enforcement authorities, the group noted.
Asked by me to comment on this, archdiocesan spokesperson Kathleen Hohl did not deny any of SNAP’s allegations. Hohl, however, noted that nowadays, the archdiocese refers any reports of sex abuse to the district attorney.
The JS story doesn’t tell readers the archdiocese knew about the case 10 years ago. A Chicago Tribune story does. The Tribune, in fact, tells readers all kinds of facts Milwaukee readers were denied: that Gerald Kobs accused Giannini of abusing him on 60 to 80 separate occasions. That James St. Patrick accused her of 100 incidents of sexual abuse. That Giannini was transferred to a high school in Chicago after leaving Milwaukee in 1969. That Giannini received extensive counseling in St. Louis after the Sisters of Mercy learned of the abuse in the 1990s.
It’s a juicy story all right. But then, so was the abuse case involving Jesuit priest Donald McGuire. In 2006, he was convicted of molesting two boys in Walworth County decades ago. Then, this past September, three more men came forward to accuse him of abusing them when they were minors in dioceses in Illinois and Arizona. What makes the case particularly newsworthy is that McGuire described himself as spiritual advisor to Mother Teresa, and traveled the globe with Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity, giving retreats for the order.
The latest accusations against McGuire were covered in four paragraphs in the JS as part of a grab bag of “religious briefings.” By contrast, the Tribune and especially the Chicago Sun Times have gone nuts, doing more than 30 articles since the Walworth County trial in 2006, with such headlines as these: “Most dangerous priest in America is arrested”; and “He did horrid things”; and “Defiant molester: ‘I will always be a priest’”; and “Child-molesting priest released from jail.”
Back when I worked at the JS, one reporter contended the paper had too many Catholics among the editors, who had no taste for covering this issue. Whatever the reason, the newspaper only started covering it after being scooped in its own backyard by the Boston Globe.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, whose decisions have enforced a shorter statute of limitations for such cases, has made it more difficult to prosecute them. But if someone leaves the state before the clock has run out, then they can be prosecuted. And there could be many former clergy in this category. Why? Because this archdiocese ranks fifth in the country in the concentration of clergy who belong to religious orders. Leaders of religious orders, it’s now clear, routinely transferred abusive clergy to other ministries in other states.
Peter Isely, Milwaukee Coordinator of SNAP, says it is “highly likely” that there are other cases of sexual abuse by members of religious orders in this archdiocese that could be and have not been prosecuted. “But the only way to know that is for Archbishop (Timothy) Dolan to require those religious orders to release all the records.”
The Legacy of Chief Hegerty
Back in March, Milwaukee Magazine Senior Editor Kurt Chandler did a column suggesting Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette Hegerty was pushed out by Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett’s folks vociferously denied this, but it’s clear the Fire Police Commission wanted her to stay. Barrett says he knew Hegerty well enough to know she wouldn’t change her mind about resigning, but since when does an executive not try to wangle more money or other incentives to keep an administrator he likes? Barrett made no such attempt.
I think he may regret this. For my money, Hegerty was the best chief we’ve had since the 1980s. She was remarkably tough on rogue cops, firing an unprecedented 37 officers in the wake of the Frank Jude beating, yet retained pretty good relations with the police union. She reinstated the gang unit, which Arthur Jones had killed, and it’s made inroads against gangs, as our January 2007 story “Gang Wars” documented. She seemed responsive to complaints from minorities, yet uniformly tough on crime. Perhaps most notably, she was a persuasive communicator who had a way of leaving the entire community feeling she was in firm control of law enforcement.
The statistics on crime on her watch rose and fell and rose. I suspect the department still doesn’t have a state-of-the-art, computerized rapid response to crime and crime patterns.
It’s certainly possible her successor, Edward Flynn, could improve the department’s efficiency. But it’s also possible Flynn, who has been jumping from one job to another, will use this as a stepping stone to a post in a bigger city.
Barrett’s predecessor John Norquist, it should be noted, failed miserably at choosing police chiefs, and eventually soured on both Philip Arreola (too soft) and Jones (too dictatorial). The job of big city police chief has so many conflicting demands it can be very hard to find a good leader. As with big city school superintendents, most people who take the job fail. All the more reason why it may have been a mistake to get rid of someone who had as much success as Hegerty.
The Buzz
-The state Department of Transportation says it will spend $2 billion or so to rebuild I-94 south to Illinois. A big chunk of the money will be spent to expand the entire stretch to an eight-lane highway. Why? Because by 2035, there will be a lot of traffic near Kenosha and the Mitchell Interchange in Milwaukee. So why spend the money now, rather than in 20 years, and why eight lanes all the way rather than just in the two places that need it?
-The retirement of County Supervisor Roger Quindel is a loss. Though he voted for the big pension hike, he confessed his error repeatedly, and worked hard to reform the system. Quindel, I suspect, may have alienated colleagues at times with his frankness, but he gave great quotes to reporters, and functioned as easily the most honest (if most despairing) analyst of county government.
-It’s always tricky for a publication to write about itself. Here is blogger Mike Plaisted’s amusing take on an attempt by the Shepherd Express to do that.
And don’t miss the Sports Nut’s weekly column.
