Not Even Flip Wilson Could Make Jerome Listecki Funny

Jerome Edward Listecki
should have been a
comedian with his keen
sense of irony

Flip Wilson was an pioneering comedian hosting a popular variety TV show in the late 1960s-70s.

One of Wilson's trademarks was his Menckenesque "the Devil made me do it" line, and his stream of monologue ridiculing religious hucksters.

Flip Wilson comes to mind reading Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki's piece last week in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Listecki warns about evil in his column, the loss of god, assuring his readers that, "(w)here a healthy religious faith flourishes, belief in God provides a foundation for the profound inherent and equal value of every individual. Human dignity hinges, after all, on our being made in the image and likeness of the divine author of both our lives and our liberties."

Funny man.

Not so funny when one considers the recent history of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and its "having been both the most callous and the most disturbing" of all the American Archdioceses in protecting predator priests preying on children, as noted by crusading attorney, Jeff Anderson, fighting for the survivors of clergy sexual abuse for over 30 years.

Notes Anderson in a brilliant expose on Frontline (Antony Thomas, Secrets of the Vatican, An Inside Look at the Scandals that Rocked Benedict's Papacy. 2014): "When it comes to the Vatican and its role in this crisis, all I have ever seen them do is talk, both denying responsibility and saying that they’re doing something, when in fact, they’re doing nothing other than what they’ve done in the past for decades and centuries, which is to deny, minimize blame, keep secrets and protect themselves."

Where are the dignity, respect for life and liberty when a child is molested by a priest? Why is the Catholic Church still fighting survivors and still protecting predator priests?

So, who is attorney Anderson fighting against today? Same old clan.

Cardinal Dolan, the Vatican and of course the current point man in protecting the Catholic Church hierarchy against its victims in Milwaukee: Listecki. [See Judge Randa Is Asked by Creditors of Archdiocese to Leave Case (Goodstein, NYT).]

But the Catholic Church hierarchy has allies such as U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) and of course the next GOP nominee for president, Jeb Bush.

The Republican Party and the Catholic Church hierarchy are dying, nihilistic institutions in need of allies, and both protect their shared misogyny against a world where women fight for their humanity.

Listecki with a rare sense of irony that Wilson and few others have shared, concludes his piece with a quote from Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Good one, Listecki.

But where has Listecki been the last few decades?

Listecki has been testifying against the Wisconsin survivors' victims bill, and fighting against other survivors wherever Listecki has been stationed. (Johnson, Listecki misled legislators on policy, Eau Claire police chief says, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 4, 2010)

For all his bad work, Listecki was kicked upstairs to Archbishop.

Not even Flip Wilson can make Listecki, Dolan and the Vatican funny.