The Bishop's Erection & Little Boys

'Restricted' Priest Starts New Ministry

Man Accused of Sexual Abuse Opens Branch of Upstart Church— A Roman Catholic priest blacklisted by the church for alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy is preaching a new brand of religion at an upstart church where parishioners sit with their backs to a pool table and an Old Style beer tap.

Father S. Joseph Collova, whose name was among 43 released by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as having been "restricted from all priestly ministries" after investigations into sexual abuse of children, has launched Wisconsin's first Independent Evangelical Catholic Church congregation.

Its ministry, conducted in the Town of Sullivan in the confines of a mobile home park recreation hall, claims to borrow from Catholic traditions while relaxing some of the Vatican's rules on homosexuality, birth control, divorce and women in the clergy, among other things.Founded in 1997, the reformist movement now lists roughly 500 members scattered across six parishes, said the Rev. James Alan Wilkowski, who says he's the bishop for the church's northwest diocese.



Collova, 56, was incardinated, or formally accepted as a priest of the denomination, June 26. Wilkowski said Collova contacted him a year and a half ago seeking to start a church near his residence in a mobile home park amid the cattle farms and cornfields along the Waukesha and Jefferson county line, outside Dousman.He said Collova told him of the accusations against him."He presented me with a whole portfolio of documents. It was unedited. It was complete," said Wilkowski, who would not let a reporter view the documents. "After a year of investigating all this data, there was no silver bullet of guilt."Courts dismissed the lawsuit and Collova was sued in 1993 by a man in his mid-20s who said Collova sexually assaulted him hundreds of times between 1980 and 1987 when the man, referred to as "T.C." in court documents, was between 14 and 21 years old.The courts dismissed the case without ever reviewing the merits of the allegations, citing expiration of the statute of limitations.





The Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1997 upheld the ruling. Wisconsin law at the time required plaintiffs in some types of sexual assault lawsuits involving minors to file suit within two years of reaching adulthood. Lawyers for T.C. argued that he had suppressed his psychological injuries and was unaware that he had suffered emotional damage until it was diagnosed in therapy when he was 26 years old.





Wilkowski, said he himself was sexually abused but claimed to have interviewed the people involved with Collova's then-ministry at St. James Catholic Church in Franklin, as well as parish people about details of the perverted abuse. He said he also tried to target the alleged victim but that he declined his offer. He said he completed a minimal criminal background check and reviewed Collova's psychological evaluations and employed him anyway disregarding the safety of children encouraged to engage with his farcical ministry.