INTERVIEW: Nate’s Mission

By WBAY news staff, Published: Apr. 18, 2023 at 5:19 PM CDT | Updated: 12 hours ago

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - It’s been two years since Wisconsin launched an initiative to investigate clergy sexual abuse. As of April 17, the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Clergy and Faith Leader Initiative has received 248 completed reports through its tipline. That’s resulted in criminal charges in multiple cases, including the conviction of a church camp counselor last week.

Almost exactly a year before the initiative was launched, 45-year-old Nate Lindstrom took his own life. He was a victim of sexual abuse as a teenager by Norbertine priests while attending school in De Pere. Nate’s Mission was founded to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse and hold those responsible accountable.

Nate’s Mission program director Peter Isely and deputy director Sarah Pearson joined us for a discussion on Action 2 News at 4:30 about the DOJ initiative. Has it been effective? Is there enough awareness? How does it compare to efforts elsewhere? And when the DOJ releases its final report on the initiative -- whenever that comes -- what does Nate Mission believe that report needs to say?

UPDATE: Brown County District Attorney David Lasee responded to allegations raised in Tuesday’s interview, saying that Nate’s Mission provided documents that are vague and non-specific. He acknowledged they gave his office a few names of priests they believed were abusers that were not on the list provided by the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. Lasee says if they can provide the name of a victim, they would meet with the victim respectfully and hear their allegations. His office would investigate the allegations and see if prosecution can come from it if the victim agrees.

Copyright 2023 WBAY. All rights reserved.