MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin
Milwaukee Federal Judge rules against Dolan’s “cemetary scheme” to hide 55 million from sex abuse victims
Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
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Before the Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for Federal Bankruptcy two years ago, former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now Cardinal Archbishop of New York, moved tens of millions of dollars into a newly invented, unnecessary, and sham “cemetery trust” so that church officials could later claim that they did not have the resources to provide restitution and aid to victims of clerical child molesters.
On Friday, Federal Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled that the archdiocese could not hide these assets from the 570 victims of childhood sex crimes who have filed cases in bankruptcy court.
When Dolan’s creative accounting was discovered and challenged by the court appointed Creditors Committee, he publically scoffed and dismissed charges that he had hid money or that he would ever be engaged in shady and questionable financial practices.
Then it was learned through documents filed in court that Dolan had taken Milwaukee church money to pay pedophile priests a “signing bonus” to quietly leave the priesthood and disappear into unsuspecting communities, including finding new employment working directly with children.
Friday’s ruling in Milwaukee, especially It’s dismissal of the argument that the court examining anything church officials do is some kind of attack on religious freedom, is a major defeat for Dolan. And it sends a message to the new cadre of bishops Dolan leads that they cannot wield social, financial and political power without embracing and exercising public transparency, corporate responsibility, and good citizenship–particularly when it concerns the fundamental duty of all social institutions to protect children.
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