Jerome Edward Listecki - Criticism

Criticism

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) criticized Archbishop Listecki on January 6, 2010, for allowing retired archbishops Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Daniel Edward Pilarczyk of Cincinnati to say Mass at St. John's Cathedral in Milwaukee. On January 12, 2010 during a hearing of the Wisconsin State Senate on a bill to extend the statute of limitations for reporting abuse as supported by Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm, State Senator Glenn Grothman joined in this criticism, and also questioned Listecki why he allowed Weakland, who had been accused of moving around abusive priests, to keep his title as Emeritus Archbishop of Milwaukee, and for retaining the name Weakland Center on the pastoral center at St. John's Cathedral. Listecki testified against the bill, saying it would single out Catholic institutions and bankrupt the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

Listecki was publicly criticized in February 2010 by Jerry Matysik, the Eau Claire Police Chief and SNAP for allegedly misleading the Wisconsin State Legislature about the LaCrosse diocese abuse notification procedure in Listecki's testimony against extending the statute of limitations, stating,"Archbishop Listecki appears more interested in protecting the organization than he is in protecting children," and again in August, 2010 by SNAP for passing up action on an abuse claim due to lack of evidence.

The Archbishop apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse in a statement made on March 30, 2010, in which he declared that both the individual perpetrators, as well as the bishops who failed to stop the abuse, "go against everything the Church and the priesthood represent." He credited the bravery of "victim-survivors" who persisted in bringing their cases to light and forcing the Church to change. "We owe these victims/survivors our deep gratitude and we acknowledge our own actions have not always expressed that gratitude adequately." He defended Pope Benedict XVI's role in the matter, saying, "...istakes were made in the Lawrence Murphy case. The mistakes were not made in Rome in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The mistakes were made here, in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, in the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s, by the Church, by civil authorities, by Church officials, and by bishops. And for that, I beg your forgiveness in the name of the Church and in the name of this Archdiocese of Milwaukee".