BishopAccountability.org
	Judge Orders Review of Church Files Sexual Abuse Case: Victims' Identities Will Be Protected By Ted Slowik The Herald News [Wheaton IL] August 9, 2005 WHEATON — A judge will review documents concerning sexual abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet before deciding whether to make the information available to the public. DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton on Monday granted the diocese's request for a protective order, but indicated that he would enforce it at his discretion. Culliton said he would personally inspect all documents related to a lawsuit against the diocese and former priest Ed Stefanich. Culliton said he would place documents in the case's public file, but still take steps to shield the identities of alleged victims and respect others who had an expectation of privacy. "I will decide what or what not will be part of the public record," Culliton said in court. "I see a distinction between materials disclosed to another party and things filed on the record. " "(The protective order) won't be a blanket one, but there may well be portions (of documents) deleted," he said. Diocesan attorney James Byrne told Culliton that within 24 hours of Monday morning's hearing he would turn over the former priest's personnel file and other documents. The file is expected to include Stefanich's seminary records, psychological evaluations, correspondence from parishioners and other documents that might shed light on how Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch responded to reports of Stefanich's inappropriate conduct with minors. Stefanich pleaded guilty in 1987 to the criminal sexual abuse of a Woodridge girl beginning when she was 14 years old and a parishioner at St. Scholastica Church. The girl later said that the relationship was discovered and reported to Imesch more than a year before the bishop removed Stefanich from ministry. A Glen Ellyn man in his late 40s filed a civil lawsuit in 2003, claiming Stefanich molested him when he was 12 years old at Christ the King Church in Lombard. The man says he blocked out recollections of the alleged abuse until he suddenly recalled them in 2001. Because repressed-memory claims are exempt from the statute of limitations, this is the only suit against the diocese in recent years to advance to the discovery phase. Culliton will decide whether he will make public the deposition of Imesch, who is scheduled to testify under oath on Thursday as part of the case. Typically, it takes about 30 days for attorneys to receive transcripts of depositions, and the judge presumably would require an indeterminate amount of time to review the transcript before deciding whether to place it in the public file. The documents are expected to show that the diocese attempted to cover up abuse allegations to avoid scandal, said Michael Brooks, an attorney for the Glen Ellyn man. "We believe its part of a pattern of behavior that took place in the 1970s and 1980s," Brooks told reporters outside the Wheaton courthouse. The diocese is using hardball legal tactics to stonewall and delay responding to the complaint, said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, who attended Monday's hearing. "The act of trying to seal the records sends a chilling message to other victims to stay back," Blaine told reporters. "The diocese has succeeded for two years in keeping this case under wraps ... The atmosphere in this diocese is that victims are not welcome. Victims are still treated as though they are the enemy."