Has William Casey been laicized?

July 25, 2012

 

Bishop Richard Stika
Diocese of Knoxville
805 Northshore Drive Southwest
Knoxville, TN 37919

Dear Bishop Stika:

There are several unanswered questions that still remain in regard to the case of Father William Casey. These questions and the answers to them are very important to the community of victims which watches intently for your answers. As a victim advocate, I am posing these questions to you on behalf of these victims of priests in Tennessee, some acknowledged by the Catholic church as pedophiles and some long ignored and, as yet, unidentified.

 

The first question is whether or not Father William Casey has been laicized by appropriate authorities in the Catholic Church (the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Congregation of the Clergy or whichever office this belongs to) in Rome and whether that official word has been received and communicated to him and to Mr. Warren Tucker. It was my understanding that you had filed paperwork for the laicization process to have occurred. Since it is now nearly 27 months since Warren Tucker brought the abuse by Father Casey to your attention and Father Casey admitted it to you, reasonable people would have supposed that we would have heard that laicization had been granted and that Father Casey would have been officially returned to the lay state. Has this occurred yet? Is Father Casey laicized or is he still a priest? Does he still receive the monetary benefits that being a priest of the diocese affords him, such as a pension, health care benefits, etc.?

 

The morning after Father Casey admitted the abuse of Warren Tucker, you proclaimed to the Catholic faithful of the diocese of Knoxville and to the people of East Tennessee that Father Casey can no longer present himself as a priest, act as a priest, or be addressed as a priest. To most people, this means that Casey is no longer a priest. However, you and I know that that is not true. He is, indeed, still a priest until the Decree of Laicization from Rome is received. Until that time, Father Casey is also still under orders of obedience to you as his bishop and, in layman's terms, you are still his boss. This leaves all of us wondering what influence this has had on the trial of William Casey, most specifically, on the funding of his defense during the course of the trial. It leaves a lot of questions in our minds as to what Casey would say if you were not his boss and not holding fiduciary ties to him as you are now.

 

A notice of appeal has been filed with the Sullivan County court, and now the defense team for Father William Casey will begin the appeal of his conviction. The focus of attention will now be the court of appeals in Knoxville, Tennessee, very close to home for you. It is, therefore, appropriate for the next question to be asked. Are you waiting for a possible overturning of the conviction of Father William Casey on a technicality so that you can use that as an excuse for NOT following through on laicization? Even though Casey admitted the abuse of Tucker and “probably others,” the citizens tend to view the overturning of a conviction as a sign of innocence, even when the perpetrator, like Casey, has admitted the crime. Is this what you are counting on to avoid laicizing Casey and running the risk of his talking outside the confines of obedience to you? Victims are asking.

 

I await your response and will pass it on to the survivors of clergy abuse.

 

Sincerely,

 

Susan Vance

SNAP of Tennessee (director of SNAP of East Tennessee)
8324 South Burchfield Drive
Oak Ridge, TN 37830

cc: Deacon Sean Smith