MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan followed the recommendation of the archdiocesan finance council
By Mark G. Doll July 10, 2013
Journal Sentinel readers would benefit from some additional facts and perspective on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Cemetery Trust. I served as chairman of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Finance Council when the cemetery trust was created in 2007, and by that time the archdiocese already held funds in trust that were put aside over the decades with the specific purpose of providing perpetual care for the more than 500,000 departed loved ones who are buried in the eight Catholic cemeteries and seven mausoleums in Milwaukee County. All but one of these are in the city.
For many decades, the archdiocese told buyers of grave sites that it would put money aside to ensure perpetual care, and buyers of grave sites were assured that funds had been set aside specifically for that purpose. Similar to the process required by Wisconsin law for non-church cemeteries, the archdiocese put a portion of the money from cemetery lots sales into a separate account from the archdiocese’s general funds. There was a regular and separate audit of the trust fund each year by an independent auditor, and the money was invested by a different group of outside investment managers. Because these funds were held in trust, special attention was given to ensuring that they were independent of the general fund and that they would be there for their intended and pledged purpose — to care for the resting places of the departed.
In spring of 2007, the finance council as a group unanimously recommended that the archdiocese formalize the way it fulfills this church responsibility.
We recommended that the existing perpetual care funds, which already were held in trust in a separate account, be transferred to a new formal trust. Our committee made this recommendation to help ensure that the church honored the fundamental promise that all Catholic cemeteries make to our deceased loved ones and their families — that the church will preserve and maintain cemeteries as sacred places forever.
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