Nowicki Welcomes Weakland Back to the Abbey

It has been reported that Archbishop Rembert Weakland is back on the campus of Saint Vincent’s College this week.

According to the New York Times [ View ] in 2002, the disgraced cleric asked the Vatican “to speed up his retirement, hours after a man gave a television interview saying the archbishop had sexually assaulted him when he was a 33-year-old graduate student, then paid him $450,000 in 1998 in a confidential settlement.”

The student, Paul Marcoux, described the misconduct to the Associated Press [ View ] in 2002:

The night of the alleged assault, Oct. 11, 1979, Marcoux said he and Weakland had cocktails and a couple of bottles of wine with dinner, then drove back to Weakland’s home where the archbishop invited him to come upstairs. Marcoux said Weakland tried to rape him.

Marcoux said Weakland made lesser advances three to five times over the next year and that he continued spending time with Weakland because he was interested in becoming a priest.

Compare Marcoux’s account with that of a young man who reported misconduct by Archabbot Douglas Nowicki:

On two occasions during this time, [victim] recalls that Archabbot Nowicki, O.S.B. placed his hand on  [victim’s]  buttocks and pinched him.  The same event occurred again when  [victim]  left Archabbot Nowicki, O.S.B.’s office at the Archabbey.  This last time caused  [victim]  to become very angry.  He had never been touched that way by a man in his life, and it made him feel uncomfortable.  The Archabbot would also go into the workout room and watch  [victim]  exercise without coming into the room or saying a word to  [victim] .

While cleaning the Chapel, which is adjacent to Archabbot Nowicki, O.S.B.’s bedroom, one evening,  [victim]  heard what sounded like sexual noises coming from two men next to Archabbot Nowicki, O.S.B.’s bedroom.  [Victim]  was certain that out of the grunts, moans and other noises one would expect to hear during a sexual encounter, he was able to confirm Archabbot Nowicki, O.S.B. was one of the individuals present.

Birds of a feather…

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