The Milwaukee Post

August 9, 2013 • Milwaukee Post • 9 OPINION Lawyers should keep hands off Catholics' cemetery fund The lawyers for the victims abused by local priests need to back off. Their attempts to loot the fund set up by local Catholics to maintain cemeteries and individual burial sites is no more than modern day grave robbing. The victims suffered at the hands of horrid priests and the church didn't much care. But that shouldn't be grounds for stealing the money of an unrelated group of people who have never done anything wrong. The ruling last week by federal Judge Rudolph Randa that the Milwaukee archdiocese's cemetery fund should be off limits was correct. That the lawyers – who haven't been victimized by anybody – would now try to attack Randa's integrity is an indication of how out of control this whole sorry situation has gotten. The victims deserve compensation for their years of suffering. The Milwaukee archdiocese is already in bankruptcy But the attempt . to latch on to the cemetery fund is a grotesque money grab. It isn't merely legally wrong; it is morally wrong. The cemetery fund is a trust set up by the Catholics to maintain their cemeteries. The money comes from Catholic families who pay in advance for burial plots in exchange for guarantees of perpetual care. The money has always been segregated from other church funds. The people who paid into the fund never molested anyone. To rob them of their money and to allow the cemeteries to fall into disrepair would be a new victimization and this time the abuse victims would be the predators. They need to tell their unethical lawyers to back off. Ah, the lawyers. It is very apparent that many of the lawyers representing the class of victims have little interest in seeing that the victims are compensated. By filing motion after motion and now seeking to go after new sources of money, they are merely running up their own fees. When this case is finally over, the lawyers stand to make a fortune and every penny they get is a penny that isn't going to an actual victim. Archbishop Jerome Listecki is doing a wonderful job balancing the need for atonement by a church that has sinned while also trying to protect today's Catholics and their church. The only way we can compensate victims in our society is with money It's why we have lawsuits. . But the fact that someone is a victim doesn't give them the right to take money from people who have never done anything bad to them. One wonders if the victims really want this fight over the burial money Do . they really want to create such hardship for families who would be forced to come up with small fortunes to re-seed the cemetery fund? It's clear their lawyers don't care, but the victims ought to have a better grasp of what it is like to be betrayed by your church. Pilfering from the cemetery fund would just be a new abuse. Some local Catholics and even some priests have pooh-poohed the awful betrayal by pervert priests and bishops who enabled them. It's probably the reason the Milwaukee archdiocese still has former Archbishop Rembert Weakland's name on church buildings despite his theft of funds to pay off an old boyfriend and his role in shuttling molester priests from parish to parish. But the majority of Roman Catholics realize the disgrace of the abuse scandal. There needs to be an end to this process. If the only money left is from a fund set up to make sure Grandma has a well-kept burial site, it truly is time to move on. BUSINESS and said it now expects adjusted earnings per share between $1.12 and $1.18 on core sales growth of 2 to 4 percent. The company's previous estimate was earnings per share of $1.10 to $1.18 on core sales growth of 1 to 3 percent. 30 percent from a year ago. "Strong natural gas sales during a cooler than normal spring and the impact of the company's share repurchase program were positive factors contributing to our solid results for this year's second quarter," said Gale Klappa, chairman and chief executive. "A cool June, however, significantly reduced demand for air conditioning across the region." BRIEFS Rexnord reports profit on higher sales MILWAUKEE – Rexnord Corp. reported recently a profit in its fiscal first quarter due to higher net sales in both business segments, according to a company statement. The Milwaukee-based manufacturer of power transmission and water management products posted net income of $13.8 million, or 14 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 29, compared with a net loss of $2.2 million, or 2 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Net sales increased 3 percent to $509 million, compared to $494 million a year ago. Rexnord increased its full-year guidance Wisconsin Energy posts higher-than-expected earnings MILWAUKEE – While reporting no growth in net income in its second quarter, Wisconsin Energy Corp. recently said a share buyback increased its earnings per share a penny higher than last year. The Milwaukee-based parent company of We Energies said results were higher than company projections from three months ago, according to a company statement. Net income was $119 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with $119.3 million, or 51 cents per share in last year's second quarter. Sales in the second quarter of 2013 were $1.01 billion, up 6.5 percent from a year ago, as natural gas sales in the quarter were up *** The actions of the lawyers for the victims are a familiar story It is common for . lawyers in class action suits to rake in millions in legal fees while the class of victims gets checks for 87 cents. In cases like this, it is in the interest of the lawyers to keep the case going eternally to keep running up fees. But this needless clock-running comes at the expense of their clients. If there is a limited amount of money that can be paid out, the more the lawyers get the less that goes to the victims. It is hard to escape the conclusion that Bryant & Stratton names MU grad president and CEO MILWAUKEE – Bryant & Stratton College has appointed Marquette University graduate Cindy Susienka as president and CEO of the college. Susienka replaces John Staschak, who is stepping down from Bryant & Stratton after 26 years. The private college has three campuses in Milwaukee. Susienka will lead strategic decisions and forward the mission and vision of the college, according to the company statement. She has more than three decades of senior and executive-level leadership expe- STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE MARK BELLING the victims are being abused again. This time the abuse is coming from their own lawyers. The whole thing is repulsive. Bishops like Weakland were aware that priests were destroying lives yet did nothing about it. Many Catholics "pretended" they didn't know about it. The former publisher of the Waukesha Freeman even refused to run one of my columns two decades ago when I commented on the severity of the abuse problem and the proliferation of gay priests. That column, stating the obvious by today's standards, wasn't printed because one person was more interested in protecting a church that needed to be exposed than letting people know about a moral disgrace. This awful period and the ensuing cover-up included a lot of people. Nonetheless, there comes a point at which blame must be assessed, money should be paid, and everyone should finally move on. It is best for the church and best for the victims. Unfortunately, that isn't what's best for a pack of greedy lawyers. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). rience. "Cindy is a seasoned leader and her success in the highly regulated healthcare industry will translate well to education," said Bryant Prentice, chairman of the board at Bryant & Stratton College. Susienka has a bachelor's and master's degree in communicative disorders from Milwaukee-based Marquette University . Bank Mutual increases quarterly dividend to 3 cents a share MILWAUKEE – Bank Mutual Corp. has announced it's raising its quarterly cash dividend to 3 cents a share from 2 cents, according to a company statement released Tuesday . The dividend will be paid Aug. 30 to shareholders of record on Aug. 16. With assets of about $2.4 billion, Brown Deer-based Bank Mutual is the thirdlargest banking institution headquartered in Wisconsin. Before the dividend increase, Bank Mutual shares closed at $6.38, up 10 cents, or 1.6 percent.

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