Milwaukee priest to join clergy sexual abuse victims and advocates at press conference objecting to public funeral celebrating former Archbishop Rembert Weakland

Former Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will call on fellow priests not to attend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8-29-22

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, including a Milwaukee priest

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

WHY: Read Nate’s Mission press release here

A statement from Father James Connell, former Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee:

Archbishop Rembert Weakland deserves no honor or praise because doing so would put salt in the wounds of victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

In May 2002, Weakland admitted to a long-term relationship with a man and that Weakland had used $450,000 of archdiocesan funds to pay that man, thus preventing a lawsuit.

In July 2013, in a court deposition made public by the archdiocese via the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Weakland acknowledged transferring Fr. William Effinger to a parish in Sheboygan in 1979, knowing of Effinger’s prior history of sexual abuse of a minor. In 1992, Effinger was arrested in Sheboygan and charged with second degree sexual assault of a teenage boy in 1987 and 1988. In 1993 Effinger pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to ten years in prison. In 1996, Effinger died in prison.

Making matters worse, in that same court deposition, Weakland says that in 1985, at a meeting of Catholic bishops, he learned about the severe damage to victims caused by sexual abuse as a minor and the likely possibility of recidivism among the perpetrators. Yet, even with that knowledge, Weakland did not remove Effinger from Sheboygan.

How many minors were victimized by Effinger after 1985? I do not know exactly, but the list would have to include the teenage boy who was abused by Effinger in 1987 and 1988, the abuse for which Effinger was arrested and incarcerated, abuse that occurred after Weakland learned about the severe damage to victims caused by sexual abuse as a minor. Abuse that could have, and should have, been avoided.

Appropriately, therefore, in March of 2019 Weakland’s name was removed from a building on the property of the archdiocesan cathedral and his image on a relief that is part of the Mary, Mother of God Shrine in the cathedral also was taken down, moves that victims/survivors had wanted for many years.

While I am pleased that Weakland’s burial will be at his monastery in Pennsylvania, I am disappointed that his funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. I would have preferred that the Mass be celebrated in a chapel in that same monastery in Pennsylvania.

Finally I call for all the Catholic clergy in the archdiocese, all bishops, priests, and deacons, to stay away from the funeral on Tuesday. Do not be there. Your absence from the funeral will provide support for all who suffer in any way because of Weakland’s evil.

Thank you. 

Fr. James Connell
A priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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