Rembert Weakland, former Milwaukee archbishop, died overnight

BY ALY PROUTY AND JASON FECHNER MILWAUKEE

UPDATED 8:00 PM ET AUG. 22, 2022 PUBLISHED 1:17 PM ET AUG. 22, 2022

This article discusses sexual assault. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call RAINN's national sexual assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for confidential support. 

MILWAUKEE — Rembert G. Weakland, who was the ninth archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002, died overnight, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Monday.

Weakland, 95, died at Clement Manor in Greenfield, where he lived. The death comes after a battle with a “long illness,” according to the archdiocese.

Pope Paul VI appointed Weakland to be Milwaukee’s archbishop on Sept. 20, 1977. He was ordained a bishop and installed as the archbishop on Nov. 8, 1977.

Weakland retired in 2002, when he was involved in multiple sex abuse controversies, just as the Catholic Church on the whole was in the spotlight for how it handled claims of clerical sexual abuse all around the world.

"His legacy, as is pretty clear, is complicated," Neal Pease, a professor emeritus of history at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said. "It's full of accomplishments and honors, and also well-documented at the end, controversy and disgrace."

A former Marquette University theology student accused Weakland of sexually assaulting him. Weakland claimed it was a consensual relationship, but the archdiocese paid $450,000 to the student.

Weakland was also accused of shredding copies of reports of clergy sexual abuse while he was archbishop.

The archdiocese removed Weakland’s name from the pastoral center at St. John the Evangelist, where he was ordained a bishop and installed as the archbishop, over sex abuse scandals.

Peter Isely, program director of Nate's Mission, issued the following statement: 

This afternoon, it was announced that former Archbishop Rembert Weakland died at age 95.

His legacy, no doubt, will be described as “complex” and “controversial” -- appointed to run the Milwaukee Archdiocese, he soon became the liberal icon of the American hierarchy, his hopes to become a Cardinal dashed with the ascendency of John Paul II and the return and triumph of the conservative church. His many gifts, his concert-level piano playing, his mastery of several languages, and his intellect -- will be enumerated and praised.

Yet the specter that cast itself over the life of Weakland, one that his death will not erase or ameliorate, is his role as chief architect in the widespread and systematic abuse of children by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Thousands of children were harmed under his watch, and he bears the responsibility.

During his tenure as Archbishop of Milwaukee, Weakland transferred dozens of known sex offenders into new assignments where they were warmly welcomed by trusting Catholic families. These offenders then proceeded to abuse their children.

Weakland coerced survivors into signing predatory settlement agreements and wielded the full force of the institutional Church including highly-paid corporate lawyers, complicit law enforcement officials, and the cultural prestige of the Church to prevent survivors from achieving justice.

He led the team that effectively rewrote Wisconsin state law to prevent future abuse claims from moving forward in the court system, making it “nearly impossible” to file a civil claim against the Church. After victims’ cases against Weakland had to be dropped because of this change, he then instructed his lawyers to sue victims for court costs, even in cases where the priests had admitted their crimes to Weakland. No bishop before or after Weakland has deployed such an aggressive tactic to intimidate and silence victims.

His legacy is that after 30 years of continuous public exposure, survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Wisconsin have fewer paths to justice today than they did decades earlier.

If the Archdiocese of Milwaukee wants to repair the harm caused by Archbishop Rembert Weakland, they must start with the truth. Tens of thousands of pages of court-ordered released documents demonstrate Archbishop Weakland’s complicity in the facilitation of child sexual abuse. But this is only a fraction of the material held by Archbishop Jerome Listecki in the archdiocese’s secret archive. Listecki publicly refused to turn this over to Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul last year. He must do so now.

Nate's Mission is an initiative of Ending Clergy Abuse. The coalition is comprised of survivor activists, faith leaders, academics, and human rights advocates who want to "reform secular and church institutions where there is evidence of widespread sexual abuse and institutional cover-up." 

“For a quarter of a century, Archbishop Weakland led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and his leadership embodied his Benedictine spirit,” said the Jerome E. Listecki, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. “His pastoral letter, ‘Eucharist without Walls,’ evoked his love for the Eucharist and its call to service. During his time, he emphasized an openness to the implementation of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, including the role of lay men and women in the Church, the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, Ecumenical dialog and addressing societal issues, especially economic justice. May he now rest in peace.”

Funeral arrangements are pending, per the archdiocese.