Victims of clergy sexual abuse to hold press conference objecting to public funeral celebrating former Archbishop Rembert Weakland

Weakland transferred or concealed dozens of known sex offenders resulting in thousands of child victims

In a deposition, Weakland indicated that there had been offenders at some point "covering the whole Diocese"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8-28-22

WHEN: Monday, August 29th, 2022, 1:00pm

WHERE: Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 831 N Van Buren St, Milwaukee, WI

WHO: Survivors of clergy sexual abuse and advocates

WHAT: A press conference with survivors and advocates unrolling a 60-foot line of photos of clergy offenders under Archbishop Rembert Weakland

WHY: For 25 years, Archbishop Rembert Weakland facilitated the cover-up of child sex crimes by Catholic clergy, resulting in thousands of child victims. On Tuesday, Archbishop Listecki will celebrate a public funeral honoring and praising Weakland’s life.

In 2019, the Archdiocese removed Weakland’s name and statue from the downtown Cathedral acknowledging his guilt in protecting abusive clergy. This is why victims expected a private funeral mass after the announcement of his death last week. But Archbishop Listecki rejected this option in favor of a public celebration, inviting city leaders, the public, and the press to attend.

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.

Weakland once wrote in his column for the archdiocesan newspaper that “not all...victims are so innocent. Some of them are streetwise and savvy.” And in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel six years later, he dangerously equated homosexuality with pedophilia, while offering his opinion that when a priest offender is no longer sexually interested in a child after they reach a certain age, “that’s when the squealing comes in” and “you have to deal with it.”

Weakland did not act alone. Many of his co-conspirators in the cover-up will be presiding at the altar and kneeling in the pews Tuesday afternoon. In the announcement of Weakland’s death, Archbishop Listecki made no mention of sexual abuse and cover-up. We expect he will make no mention of it during Tuesday’s service.

Although the disgraced archbishop apologized for his “sinfulness” in a hush money settlement of an abuse claim against him, he never asked for forgiveness or publicly apologized directly to the thousands of victims for his role in their abuse.

By holding a public celebration of Weakland’s life and career, Archbishop Listecki is signaling his endorsement of Weakland’s leadership. Victims are alarmed that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is returning to Weakland’s patterns and practices including the concealment of criminal evidence of child sexual abuse.

Attorney General Josh Kaul is in possession of Church documents that indicate that the number of alleged offenders under Weakland’s watch is much higher than the 48 publicly-identified clergy, and there may be as many as 218 additional offenders.

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. 

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