Milwaukee Archdiocese Priest Alliance
Priest Alliance Meeting, April 24, 2004
Members present: Steve Amann, Bill Burkert, Dave Cooper, Mike Erwin, Alan Jurkus, John Lukaszewicz, Brian Mason, Ken Mich
Excused: Joe Hornacek
Also in attendance: Allan Sommer
The meeting was held at St. Roman Parish and was called to order at 1:30 PM. Ken Mich led an opening prayer.
The minutes of the March 24th meeting were reviewed. The following corrections were made:
The minutes were then approved.
Two checks were written:
Balance on hand is $904.20
Dave Cooper spoke with Jeff Haines who felt it was a good idea for the Alliance to have a presence at the assembly, but he wanted to run the idea past the Archbishop. The Archbishop agreed that the Alliance could have a room at the assembly, but did not want that announced. He later changed his mind about the announcement and Jeff said one would be made. We will be available from 3:15-4:15 on Tuesday afternoon.
Ken Mich made Priest Alliance badges that could be affixed to our assembly nametags.
The question was then discussed as to what to make available at the assembly. It was decided that Dave Cooper would make up a membership registration form as well as a description of how the Alliance works and the issues that are currently being addressed. The forms would then be emailed to the list of members we currently have and ask them to sign up as members. It was also decided that every member of the convening board would carry forms with them in case people wanted to speak with us during the assembly.
Considerable discussion took place regarding the issue of who is a member of the Alliance and who is not. Most priests who have attended the September and/or February meetings already feel they are a member of the Alliance. We would like to develop a concrete list of dues-paying members so that we can begin to move away from using the archdiocesan email list. A decision was made that dues would be $25.00 per year and the year would run from January through December.
Mike Erwin reported that he had had interviews with Phil Reifenberg and Margaret Farrow and that he wanted to pursuer further dialogue with Joe Hornacek, Barbara Reinke, and Barbara Ann Cusack. The purpose of all of these was to reach a better understanding of the process used to determine the guilt of an accused priest when a court has found the priest not guilty. Mike said the information on the archdiocesan website is not the whole story. Neither the accused priest nor the victim knows what each other is saying. It appears to Mike that there is no system of checks and balances to see if the process is being followed. The archdiocesan review board is not allowed to speak with the accused priest or the victim. Everything is focused on the private investigator’s report. Neither the accused priest nor the victim ever see the investigator’s report. All three of the private investigators come from a prosecutory background. There is no cross-examination given in the investigation.
Alan Jurkus had seen Joe Hass at a funeral and from his experience being accused he suggested every priest who is accused have a civil attorney, a canon lawyer and their own private investigator. The process seems to be one person’s word against another and that the investigators are always pushing the accused to admit their guilt.
Margaret Farrow and Phil Reifenberg both said they were open to reviewing and making changes in the process.
Steve asked Mike to send him a short summary of these findings for posting on the website.
The question was also raised whether or not we could begin collecting a list of names of civil attorneys who are willing to take cases when priests are accused?
The point was also made that the process needs to be mutually respectful of the victims, as they receive no cross-examination either.
Steve Amann reported that the group met on April 21st. They are recommending a survey to the Convening Board. They looked at Dean Hoge and Andrew Greeley’s books and tried to surface issues that are causing low morale. These included:
Where does the group go from here? How do they raise morale among priests? They will post these issues on the website and ask for feedback. The chat room might be beneficial for this.
Alan Jurkus will take up the salary issue and have a proposal ready for the Spring Assembly.
The next meetings of the Convening Board will be held on Wednesday, May 19th and Friday, June 4th both at St. Matthias Parish from 1:30-3:00.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian Mason,
Secretary/Treasurer