Good morning.
The Dr. King holiday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of eighteen. Sunrise is 7:18 AM and sunset 4:54 PM, for 9h 35m 44s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Today is the eight hundred third day.
Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1935, five Janesville boys are arrested: “five Janesville boys, ages 13-16, were arrested for a string of burglaries, including the thefts of cigarettes, whiskey and blankets. While in the police station, one of the boys tried to crack the safe in the chief’s office.”
Recommended for reading in full:
Patrick Marley reports Evers tours teen prison that Walker wouldn’t visit:
Gov. Tony Evers wants to address problems at the state’s juvenile prison by raising wages, filling jobs and working closely with those suing over conditions there.
Evers said in an interview he believes the state is making progress at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls but will need more time and money to shut them down. For now, the prison complex north of Wausau is scheduled to close by 2021.
The new Democratic governor toured the problem-wracked facilities during his first week on the job. The tour fulfilled a campaign promise he made to contrast himself with Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who didn’t visit any correctional institutions during his eight years in office.
….
Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake have been under criminal investigation for four years over allegations of child neglect and prisoner abuse. They have been the subject of multiple lawsuits, including one that resulted in an $18.9 million payment to a former inmate and another that forced the state to dramatically scale back its use of pepper spray and solitary confinement.
Annysa Johnson reports Milwaukee DA John Chisholm calls for a statewide review of Catholic Church abuse files:
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm is calling for a statewide investigation of the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of sexual abuse of minors, similar to the Pennsylvania probe that sparked a wave of inquiries across the country.
Chisholm said he would like to work with district attorneys around the state and newly elected Attorney General Josh Kaul to review all abuse allegations over the last 50 years. He said he would hope the state’s bishops would voluntarily open their files.
If not, he said, he would be open to other mechanisms, such as a John Doe or grand jury proceeding.
Chisholm said he also would consider asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to share with authorities the names of more than 100 alleged offenders under seal as part of the now-closed Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy.
“I strongly believe that we should have access to all of the dioceses’ complaints for the last 50 years, similar to a process we started in Milwaukee County in the early 2000s,” Chisholm said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
I note with interest that the Madison diocese is “considering” probing it’s abuse cases.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2019/01/19/madisons-catholic-diocese-considers-probe-its-abuse-cases/2626251002/
Considering?? Really?? That’s mighty nice of them! They were thinking of it earlier, but then Bishop Morlino died and they got sidetracked.
The reality is that if the Catholic church came completely clean, there would be no church left. Tim Dolan, Bishop of MKE, before being elevated to Bishop of NYC, essentially admitted as much when he squirreled away lots of the church assets in the MKE Catholic Cemetery Maintenance Trust Fund. The entire idea was to shield the bux from the abusees.
Can there be any question that the Catholic clergy are a pedophilia cult masquerading as a religion? Tens of thousands of Catholic clergy have already been outed as pedophiles world-wide. It seems clear that these clergy were not converted to pervies by Catholic doctrine, but rather joined the Catholic clergy as it provided a marvelous opportunity to practice, and disguise, their proclivities.
None of this is just coincidental. It should not be left to the leaders of the Catholic Church to “consider” doing something about it. They, all the way up to the pope, are severely compromised. Chisholm is right. Let the subpoenas fly.
I don’t agree that the Catholic clergy are cult, but I’m discerning enough to see that you refer to the clergy, and not the laity, and that you describe conduct not doctrine. Agreed, as you observe: a tendency to abuse and criminality must precede ordination. I’m from a Lutheran and Catholic family, but with a fair understanding of Catholic teaching for a mainline Protestant.
Broad brush, and it’s very broad brush (as there are many theological differences with the western Church): the Orthodox have gone on in a liturgical and hierarchical tradition without anything like this level of crisis (where crisis means innocent victims, mostly but not exclusively minors). Catholicism could find a way forward, but that prospect rests with Catholics (and laity more than anyone else, past practices notwithstanding). Everything that I write is as a Protestant outsider, but one who admires greatly Catholic Social Teaching.
When persons, private institutions, or even public institutions fail to protect the innocent, there are injuries yet requiring redress (so much as is possible) under civil and criminal law. No one should be below, but no one must be above, the’s reach.
Chisolm is right to act as he now is – if anything, communities have waited too long to apply the criminal law (and have offered too much cover through civil actions under bankruptcy law).
Ours is a time of painful contrasts: many have a greater momentum to address sexual abuse (of minors and adults) than ever before; this momentum rests, however, on a volume of injuries present in communities across the continent. The worthy momentum does not compensate for the grievous injuries. Indeed, we have no adequate compensation at all.
With regard to #MeToo, in particular (addressing only a part of a greater number of injuries), I’d say that movement is, if anything, not supported enough. (The Dear Colleague letter – preceding #MeToo – was a positive step for campus life, but now even that measure has been wrongly set aside.)
Chisolm is doing the right thing here, and district attorneys across our state should be demanding better-trained investigators for cases of sexual abuse against minors and harassment and assault of adults on (or off) campus. A just and well-order society requires not less, but more, than we have done or are doing.