Facing criticism from survivors, Attorney General Josh Kaul vows to use 'whatever legal processes' he can in faith leader review
PUBLISHED June 20, 2022, by Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the name of Nate's Mission's deputy director.
MADISON - Attorney General Josh Kaul is vowing to use "whatever legal processes" he can to continue his clergy and faith leader review after concerns were raised by abuse survivors over what they said was a lack of action by the Department of Justice.
In an interview, Kaul promised to keep the review moving forward after survivors called into question what the Attorney General planned to accomplish without holding religious orders in the state accountable.
"Our goal is to gather any documents we are able to get, through whatever legal process we can, that can aid us in conducting a review of clergy and faith leader abuse," Kaul said. "So to the extent that there are ways that we can obtain documents, where we have a basis to do that, whether it's through ideally, people voluntarily providing us information, but if not if there is a basis for legal process, we're committed to pursuing those based on the evidence that we have."
At the end of April 2021, Kaul announced the faith leader review flanked by a number of victims of clergy abuse and said the Department of Justice would request documents from the dioceses and religious orders as part of the investigation into sexual abuse.
More: One year into clergy investigation, state has received more than 200 reports of abuse
But that still hasn't happened, survivors say, and they're starting to wonder if the investigation will actually be able to hold religious organizations accountable for decades of sexual abuse by clergy.
Nate's Mission, an advocacy group aimed at ending clergy abuse in Wisconsin, held a press conference criticizing the inquiry and saying Kaul hasn't yet taken the actions he promised when he announced it last spring.
The group is named for Nate Lindstrom, who accused multiple priests at St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere of sexually abusing him in the 1980s. He died by suicide in 2020, nearly one year after the abbey stopped sending secret payments he received for 10 years.
During a June 7 news conference outside of the state Capitol building, Sarah Pearson, the deputy director of Nate's Mission, said Kaul launched the inquiry with a host of survivors behind him, but by not taking stronger action, he's hurt those people.
"They made a commitment that this was something that they wanted to investigate and pursue, and in that commitment, thus far, from what we've seen, they failed," she said. "They've chosen instead to take an approach that's an individual one that focuses on a number of calls — that focuses on individual cases — but doesn't examine the institutional nature of this crime."
Pearson said individual cases should be tied back to the institutions they occurred within, because that may show a larger picture of how abuse was allowed to occur or covered up.
"They've chosen instead to make it an individual problem. And that's just not what this is. Sexual Violence is a political problem," she said. "We expected a political response and that's not what we're seeing from the Attorney General's office."
Pearson and Peter Isely, the program director of Nate's Mission, particularly called out the Catholic dioceses of Wisconsin, which through the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said they didn't plan to release new records unless credible accusations were brought forward against current clergy members.
"We want an investigation into organizations like corporations," Isely said. "You have to retrieve all the abuse documents and evidence."
The Archdiocese argues that tens of thousands of documents have already been released to the public through the settlement with survivors in 2011, and emphasized that Kaul has not yet come to them with accusations against any Catholic clergy.
"As we have consistently stated, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee continues to cooperate with the attorney general regarding any new allegations against a living diocesan priest," said Sandra Peterson, the communications director of the Archdiocese. "To date, the attorney general has not indicated that any have been received by his office.”
The five dioceses include the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Dioceses of Madison, La Crosse, Superior, and Green Bay.
'We will follow the facts'
So far, the faith leader review has resulted in charges being brought against two individuals tied to religious organizations. Neither was affiliated with the Catholic Church or Catholic religious orders.
In May, an arrest warrant was issued for 61-year-old Jeffrey Anthony Charles, who police say sexually assaulted a minor at a cabin in Douglas County between 2005 and 2010.
Charles served as the pastor for the nondenominational church Neighbors to Nations in Princeton, Minn., at the time of the assaults, but routinely traveled to his Wisconsin cabin with parishioners. He is accused of assaulting the victim four times over the course of five years, while the victim was between the ages of 3 and 7.
In February, Remington Jon Nystrom, 33, was charged with one count of first-degree sexual contact with a child under 13 in connection with an incident that occurred in 2009. Nystrom was a counselor at a Mount Morris camp in Waushara County when, police say, he inappropriately touched a sleeping child. is affiliated with the Moravian Church of America.
Two cases have also been handed over to Brown County investigators, but no charges have yet been filed there.
More: Three former Wisconsin church officials appear on the Southern Baptist Convention list of abusers
In all, the clergy and faith leader initiative has generated more than 200 reports from across the state. Reports so far have included 150 individuals accused of abuse, and 51 individuals who have reported abuse to law enforcement for the first time.
Individuals are able to make a report to the department either by phone or by submitting a form online, according to a news release. In total, more than 1,000 calls have been made to the hotline since its launch last year.
Reports have involved clergy and faith leaders from multiple religious organizations, as well as some reports of abuse not related to any religious organization. Some reports include claims against multiple abusers.
Isely and Pearson also called into question what Kaul was aiming to accomplish with the review, pointing to an email sent to a survivor earlier this year.
In the March 22 email, obtained by the Journal Sentinel, a victim services specialist with the DOJ said that goal of the project was to review cases submitted and determine what can be done with the allegations.
"Maybe investigating is too strong of a word," the email said. "The initiative does not have the resources to thoroughly 'go after the church' or investigate all allegations that extend from many of these cases. I wish that could be done, but the reality is $$$."
Kaul said the department as a whole has faced budget constraints over the last several years due to decisions the Legislature has made while setting the amount of money available to each state agency. There is still a dedicated team of lawyers, victim specialists and others working on the review, he said.
"We are using existing resources at the DOJ to conduct this review," Kaul said. "We have made significant resources available and we're going to continue to address the issue."
Kaul said that the investigation will continue to explore all reports it receives from survivors and whistleblowers alike, whether the details are about a single case of abuse or larger, institutional coverups.
"We will follow the facts," Kaul said. "We continue to seek as much cooperation as we can get, but regardless of how much cooperation we get, we're moving forward with the faith leader abuse review and we're going to conduct as full and comprehensive review as we can, and follow the facts where they lead."
How to file a report
To file a report, call 877-222-2620 or use the online reporting tool at supportsurvivors.widoj.gov. Both options provide the ability to file an anonymous tip.
The department is still accepting reports, and said survivors have control of what happens after their report is received.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.