MILWAUKEE (WI)
The New York Times
Documents on Clergy Offenders
Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Lawyers of the Abused
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: July 1, 2013
Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday revealed that in 2007, the diocese’s archbishop at the time, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund in order to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.
Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has in the past emphatically denied seeking to shield church funds as archbishop of Milwaukee, and he reiterated in a statement on Monday that these were “old and discredited attacks.”
However, the files released Monday contain a letter he wrote to the Vatican in 2007, in which he explained that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.”
The Vatican moved swiftly to approve the request, the files show, even though it often took years to remove known abusers from the priesthood.
Abuse victims demanding transparency and accountability have long pressed for the release of the documents, and the victims’ lawyers had asked a judge to compel their release. One day before a judicial hearing in April, the archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome E. Listecki, announced his intention to release the documents.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.