Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Another Bishop "Withheld" Evidence

Bp. Wilton Gregory is on the hot-seat.

A former president of the US bishops' conference has been accused of withholding evidence about an abusive priest from a review board.

In an Illinois court case, Margaret Mensen-- who headed a board studying clerical abuse in the Belleville diocese-- has testified that former Bishop Wilton Gregory did not provide full records of priests who had been accused of molesting young people. In a sworn deposition Mensen said that her panel would have investigated rape charges against Father Raymond Kownacki, but those charges were never disclosed to the board


...Msgr. James Margason, who was vicar general for the Belleville diocese under then-Bishop Gregory, has conceded that he did not supply full information about the charges against Kownacki to the review board.

Gregory was part of the Bernardin Machine. He later was Ordinary of Atlanta.

The case has some potential implications in Milwaukee, as the lawyers have raised the "fraud" issue, which is identical to a claim made in a Milwaukee-area case. Obviously, this is Wisconsin and that is Illinois, but it could be costly to Belleville.

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