Father James Connell: Attorney general is protecting children

Last April, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced a statewide initiative to review reports of clergy and faith leader sexual abuse in Wisconsin.

The initiative has begun with a review of the five Catholic dioceses in the state along with a review of some of the Catholic religious orders operating within those dioceses. (AG Kaul Announces Statewide Inquiry into Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse | Wisconsin Department of Justice).

Finally, I thought, an independent review that could vindicate the claims of clergy sexual abuse victims/survivors, while also giving the church an opportunity to clear its name and repair its reputation.

Yet, in June, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki cried foul claiming the attorney general is exceeding his “legal authority to conduct such an investigation” and that the investigation “is directly targeting only the Catholic Church." (Response to the Attorney General; archmil.org).

This unfortunate position of the archbishop notwithstanding, the attorney general must go forward with the review because without the whole and complete truth there can be no justice, and without justice there will be no healing.

Fr. James Connell, Milwaukee