Mediator received 93 reports of abuse since January
Of those, 37 completed mediation, 13 in process and 14 being investigated

By Sam Lucero of the Catholic Herald Staff

MILWAUKEE — Since establishing an independent mediation system last January to address claims of clergy sexual abuse of minors, 93 reports have been received, according to a report issued Sept. 15 by Eva Soeka, administrator of the mediation system.

In September 2003, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan appointed Soeka to develop a dispute resolution system to address claims of child sexual abuse by diocesan clergy. Soeka, who serves as director of Marquette University’s Center for Dispute Resolution, said of the 93 reports the mediation system received between Jan. 29 and Sept. 10, 37 have completed mediation and resolved their claims with signed mediation agreements. In addition, 13 are presently in the mediation process and another 14 are in the investigatory stage.

“Two claimants declined to pursue the mediation process and six claims were determined, after extensive investigation, to be unsubstantiated,” stated the report, which was provided to the Catholic Herald Sept. 14.

The remaining 21 claims reported to the mediation system were not included in mediation for various reasons. These include:

• 10 cases in which alleged abuse was perpetrated by members of religious orders or other dioceses;
• three cases in which the victims were adults when abuse occurred; n three cases in which the person reporting the claim was a family member or friend of the alleged victim;
• three cases in which the abusers were found to be lay people, not clergy;
• two cases in which the claimants could not provide sufficient information about the alleged abuse for an investigation to be conducted.

“With respect to the religious order claimants,” stated Soeka’s report, “each of these claimants was referred by the system’s administrators to a specific person to contact within the religious order involved in the alleged abuse.”

The religious orders were also notified of the claims, with an invitation from the mediation system to offer its services at the orders’ request. The names of claimants were not reported to the religious orders.

“To date, one case involving a religious order has been mediated within the system and has been resolved with a signed mediation agreement,” stated the report.

The six claims determined to be unsubstantiated were investigated by one of three independent investigators whom the report identified as former Milwaukee police detectives.

In an interview, Soeka said the mediation team had been working on the report for more than three weeks. It was released to the media on Wednesday, with a copy given to Archbishop Dolan.

“We had to allow the system to develop and actually be implemented for about four months to see what we would be receiving,” she said. “That would have been May through August. Since then, we have been collecting these files. They are constantly in flux because they can go from the investigatory stage to mediation stage” in a matter of days.

According to Soeka, an additional report will be released by the mediation system by Dec. 15. “The system continues to take reports of diocesan clergy sexual abuse of a minor,” the report concludes.

As system administrator, Soeka reviews all of the callers who wish to use the mediation system.