Rev. Alfred J. Kunz

Kunz performed exorcisms and in fact was scheduled to consult about one with a woman who was on her way to see he when he was murdered.5Chuck Nowlen, “The Devil and Father Kunz,” Las Vegas Weekly, April 12, 2001. Some therefore suspect that Luciferians, people who worship Satan in a direct and sincere manner, may have murdered Kunz. Kunz was a friend of Malachi Martin, a dubious figure, an ex-Jesuit whose status in the Church was never clear. Martin wrote novels about a Satanic conspiracy in the Catholic Church, even at the highest levels, and saw the hands of a Luciferian in the manner of Kunz’s death.6Malachi Martin, “The Assassination of Christ’s Hero,” Father Martin’s Monthly Newsletter, March 12, 1998.

Kunz attracted right-wing Catholics, some of whom were involved in bizarre groups. The least bizarre were those who thought the popes were betraying God by not properly consecrating Russia to the Virgin Mary as she had requested. Other groups took an apocalyptic and survivalist direction.7Jessica McBride and Jim Stingl, “A Wayward Flock, An Unsolved Killing,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 24, 1998.

Kunz was also involved with people who were exposing sexual corruption in the Catholic Church: Rev. Charles Fiore and Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful.

Fiore and Kunz were friends. Fiore, who had been a Dominican, disagreed with the direction
the order was taking, left, and eventually became a member of the Fraternity of St. Peter, a traditionalist order that said the old Latin Mass. Fiore lived in Lodi, about five miles from Dane. He saw Kunz several times a week and spoke on the phone with him daily. Kunz was Fiore’s confessor.8Samara Kalk, “Friend of Kunz Cries Foul,” Capital Times, March 3, 2000 They collaborated on the radio program.

Fiore said that he discovered sexual abuse at his first assignment and was deeply disturbed by
the way it was covered up by the hierarchy. Over the years he assisted about a hundred victims of sexual abuse. With aid from Kunz, Fiore prepared a dossier on the problems of the Catholic Church in the United States and had it delivered to the pope by a friend of Msgr. Dziwisz, the secretary of Pope John Paul. The pope ignored the dossier.9Toby Westerman, “Gay Culture in Catholic Church Grows,” World Net Daily, March 24, 2002. As a similar dossier (prepared by another Dominican and canon lawyer, the Rev. Thomas Doyle) was delivered to the Pope by Cardinal Krol of Detroit and was also ignored, and the Pope ignored the pleas of a cardinal to
act against pedophilia, Fiore’s story is entirely credible. Fiore claimed he knew of six bishops who were pedophiles;10William R. Wineke, “Rev. Fiore, Abortion Opponent, Dies at 68,” Wisconsin State Journal, February 20, 2003. this statement was regarded as bizarre, but as of 2008 nineteen American bishops have been accused, and some have admitted to the abuse.11See http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/. Fiore’s most controversial work was with Stephen Cook, who accused Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago of abuse and later said that he could no longer trust his memory of the abuse because of the way his brain was affected by AIDS.12“Maverick Priest Aided Bernardin’s Accuser,” Christian Century, December 15, 1993; Tom Roberts, “Fiore Denies Urging Bernardin’s Accuser, National Catholic Reporter, February 14, 1997; A. W. Richard  Sipe, who has been an expert witness in scores of sexual abuse cases, is convinced that Bernardin was homosexually active
(“View from the Eye of the Storm,” Linkup National Conference, February 23, 2003).

Kunz helped Stephen Brady found Roman Catholic Faithful, a group dedicated to investigating and exposing corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, and provided Brady with information about sexually active and abusive priests in the Midwest.13Pete Sherman, “Defender of the Faith,” Illinois Times, June 19, 2003.  Brady has made what were at one time dismissed as wild charges against priests and bishops, especially Bishop Daniel Ryan
of Springfield, Illinois.14Pete Sherman, “Defender of the Faith,” Illinois Times, June 19, 2003. Ryan resigned in 1999; he has been involved in curious domestic altercations with men and has been publicly criticized by his own diocese for violating celibacy.15 RCF, Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, Summer 2005, p. 17. The Special Panel on Clergy Misconduct of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois stated that “Bishop Ryan engaged in sexual misconduct with adults and used his authority to conceal this misconduct,” (August 2006).

Although Fiore and Brady were often dismissed as cranks, after the revelations that began in 2002 no one doubts the existence of widespread corruption in the Church. This sexual corruption sometimes involved murder. Rev. Brey speculated that someone in the Catholic clergy hired a murderer to kill Kunz both to prevent Kunz from exposing abusers and to send to send a warning to Fiore.16Rob Zaleski, “Is the Killer’s Trail Cold?” Capital Times, July 3, 2000. Another murder in Wisconsin was motivated by a desire to cover up sexual crimes. The Rev. Ryan Erickson of Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2002 murdered two men to keep his sexual abuse of teenage boys from being exposed (see Erickson case on this website).

The Dane police claim they have a suspect, and that the person’s motives are “common,” but that there is at the moment not enough evidence to prosecute this person.17Ed Trevelen, “Suspect Cited in Murder of Priest,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 6, 2008.

The teacher who found Kunz’s body has been the object of suspicion. Because he found the body, he was covered with Kunz’s blood. But Kunz had obviously fought with his assailant, and the teacher was not injured. The teacher stayed with Fiore for several months after the murder, and Fiore noticed nothing suspect.18Lee Sensenbrenner, “Kunz Killer Search Goes Beyond State,” Capital Times, November 14, 2000; Chuck Nowlen, “The Devil and Father Kunz,” Las Vegas Weekly, April 12, 2001.

The police claim that they are still pursuing the case, but their website on the Kunz murder was active only in 2003.

Footnotes

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Learn more about the Crossland Foundation and what it is doing at www.crosslandfoundation.org