The [Duluth News Tribune].... newspaper reported Wednesday that [Fr.] Urban wrote the letters around 1980, describing sex acts, including encounters with other priests and strangers. The newspaper got letters from Anne Godin, whose now-deceased husband received them from the Rev. Franklyn Becker while writing a book about the priesthood. Becker was a priest in the Milwaukee Archdiocese who was accused of child sexual abuse in Wisconsin and California and later was defrocked.
Godin told the Duluth News Tribune that she and her husband presented the letters to then-Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba in Milwaukee but said the two did not act on them.
Becker was one of the worst.From the account above, it does NOT appear that the letters described assaults on underage boys.
Curious.
Did you notice the Duluth article seems to infer that there is a link between homosexual activity and abuse of minors? Freudian slip?
ReplyDeleteAnd he did talk about attraction to underage men.
ReplyDeleteUrban makes no mention of sex with minors in his letters, but does write that he was attracted to teenage boys. Describing a confirmation for 16 senior high students, he calls some of them “young studs” and says of one swim team member “I’ve seen pictures of him in just his trunks — ‘most delicious.’ ”
What is amazing is that he felt comfortable writing this to another priest.
”What is amazing is that he felt comfortable writing this to another priest.”
ReplyDeleteNo Badger, before all of this broke it would have been amazing, but we now know that there were groups of priests involved in this, some of whom have not been exposed and continue to fly under the radar. The “Boys Club” in Chicago that Andrew Greeley referred to, was not limited to the Chicago Archdiocese but was replicated elsewhere.
And Dad, given Weakland’s own proclivities, would he have found anything amiss in the letters? As for Skylba – another reason he should be retired without further delay.
Wow, thanks Gor, I had never heard of the "Boys Club" before. I guess I still have not grasped how widespread this kind of sh*t was. I will soon be reading "Good Bye Good Men" and hoping to gain more insight.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sklba needing to be retired, but isn't he already 75?
Badger: I've read "Good Bye, Good Men" and you're in for more shocking stories. It makes my blood boil that the Lavendar Mafia had such a hold on so many seminaries - even within Religious Orders - and they cemented their positions by weeding out the orthodox.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to some of them - like Louvain - which previously had a great reputation for orthodoxy and learning, was a tragedy.
Yeah, I heard GBGM gives names and gets specific. Dad29 had told me there's another book by Fr. Enrique Rueda: The Homosexual Network. Says it THE book on the subject. It's out of print & I haven't seen it anywhere. Tried ordering GBGM off Amazon and it was back-ordered for a month. Conspiracy! :)
ReplyDeleteI've been recommended by a few people now to read GBGM. One of those books the local Catholic shop would be embarrassed to sell. Dad29 recommended Fr. Enrique Rueda: The Homosexual Network. Its out of print and I haven't seen anywhere. He says it is THE book on the subject.
ReplyDelete