UNITED STATES
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June 6, 2012
Posted by Paul Moses
Cardinal Timothy Dolan assailed The New York Times this week for its reporting on payments provided to priests who were known sex abusers so that they could be laicized as quickly as possible. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee refers to these payments, made while Dolan was archbishop there, as “funds for transition.” Advocates for victims call them a “payoff.”
Whatever term one uses, it is clear that, despite what the cardinal says, the church has paid money with the aim of getting known offenders to leave the priesthood. But at the same time, The Times hasn’t provided the context needed to understand what Dolan said about one specific payment in 2006, which gives the impression that he lied at the time.
That the payments were intended to induce priest-offenders to leave is clear in a statement the Milwaukee archdiocese issued on May 31:
” … in 2002, at the height of the publicity about clergy sexual abuse, advocates for abuse survivors were demanding that all priest offenders be “defrocked” or laicized.
Responding to that demand, the archdiocesan finance council, which is made up of respected lay leaders in the community, discussed the most expedient and cost-effective way to have offenders laicized or removed from the priesthood. Having someone seek laicization voluntarily was faster and less expensive. It made sense to try and move these men out of the priesthood as quickly as possible.
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