The Becker Documents

The following outine gives added information regarding the PDF files linked above.

1970 - Fall - Note in file from Fr. Robert Sampon - someone met with Sampon and reported that there was a problem with Becker and her son (00697)

11/ 14/1974 - letter to Cousins questions whether Becker has a “personal problem” (00224)

10/28/1976 - letter to Cousins informing him that St. Louis U asked for Becker’s resignation. Discusses Becker relating to homosexuals and work with Dignity (00240)

2/22/1977 - Arch of Los Angeles decline’s Becker’s offer to come to LA to work (00243)

1/30/1979 - Weakland writes a letter to Bishop Maher (San Diego) where Weakland was asking for a report on Becker’s conduct when he was in San Diego and reason why he is now coming back to Milwaukee (00271)

2/5/1979 - Maher writes back and notes that “No doubt there are psychological problems in Father Franklyn Becker’s life that he must solve.” (00272)

2/11/1980 - Becker writes apology to Weakland for Becker’s actions. Becker states “with my orientation the frequent presence of teenage boys in the house at night was tantalizing to say the least. It was during that time that I met the boy with whom I became involved.” (00030-32)

2/22/1980 - Notes from 2002 meeting recapping Becker’s history - notes that on 2/22/1980 “2 parishioners aware of “unfort. incident w/ teenage boy . . . Becker promised tx and not to do it again, requested transfer.” (00775)

10/3/1980 - vicar log notes that Father Stoll does not want Becker as a priest at his parish because “Stoll is afraid that if Becker’s problem manifests itself in the small community, the damage will be irreparable” (00863)

1/10/81 - vicar log notes that “heffron contacted me with the information that the mother of one of the seventh grade boys told him that Becker was associating rather intimately with her son.” (00847)

8/17/82 - vicar log notes that “Father Carl called to say that [redacted] who live in St. John’s Parish are worried about the relationship that exists between Becker and their teenage son.” (00846)

12/1/1982 - vicar log notes that “The most recent was Becker’s acceptance of a chaplaincy for one week on a Caribbean cruise. Heffron did not object to this but later found out that Becker has taken a 7th grade boy on the trip with him.” (00845)

12/7/1982 - vicar log notes that Becker admitted taking the boy with him on the cruise and that they shared a room. (00845)

1/26/1983 - Letter to Rev. Janicki stating that Becker has problems, “including those with young boys.” (00351)

1/29/1983 - vicar log notes letter regarding Becker that noted that Becker was “seeing a boy from St. Eugene’s Parish in violation of the wishes of the boy’s mother who is a widow.” (00842)

3/15/1983 - vicar log notes “Without any names mentioned and off the record I described the situation regarding Franklyn Becker to E. Michael McCann, the District Attorney.” (00840)

5/10/1983 - vicar log notes that the Archdiocese was told by a Doctor who evaluated Becker that Becker is a pedophile (00839)

10/17/1984 - Weakland appoints Becker as chaplain at West Allis Hospital (00449)

4/19/1985 - vicar log notes that “Franklyn Becker acted as a sponsor for a young man being confirmed.” (00834)

7/26/1990 - vicar log notes that woman complained of Becker’s “seemingly intensive pastoral care devoted to her son, [redacted] at West Allis Hospital.” (00833)

2/1993 - vicar log notes a report of someone who Becker molested shortly after the person graduated from high school. (00830)

7/19/1996 - Memo from Liz Piasecki which notes that “Father Becker, now (again), identifies himself as a pedophile.” Also notes that Becker may have made advances towards adolescent boys that live near him. Also notes that “Father Becker may be in possession of child pornography in his home.” (00757)

1/29/1997- Archbishop meet with Becker and notes that Becker “continued to be a risk for the Archdiocese.” However, Archbishop agrees to allow Becker to continue with his help out ministry. (00855)

1/30/1997- Letter from vicar for clergy to Becker states that in a meeting with Becker and the Archbishop, “the Archbishop was clear in pointing out that the insurance risk for your conduct is totally an Archdiocesan responsibility.” (00616)

5/16/2003 - Letter from Archbishop Dolan to Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) detailing Becker’s sexual abuse of numerous children and multiple reports of abuse through the years. (00804, 000813-816)