MILWAUKEE (WI)
Cream City Catholic
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee released its Plan of Reorganization to start closing out the bankruptcy process. I read the statement from Archbishop Listecki and I think this quote pretty much sums up the message for me.
The archdiocese has historically operated on a balanced budget, so the burden of paying off this debt will certainly be part of our penance.
What is so frustrating is that the Archdiocese has continuously imposed its poor leadership and decision-making on all of its members – this is our penance. Not only did those children suffer horrible abuses, but we will all be carrying the financial burden of this tragic disaster for years and years to come. Where do you think this money will come from? This restructuring announcement comes on the heels of the 2014 Stewardship Appeal, when we are all encouraged to give generously to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. No doubt a lot of the money we give will go to paying back this debt. What is very sad to me is that the Catholic Church is responsible for so much good in Milwaukee, but at some point we can’t continue to blindly fund an institution on the premise of being faithful Catholics. It doesn’t make you or me a bad Catholic to question how the money is being spent. Frankly, I don’t trust the leadership to make those financial decisions anymore.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee should have liquidated ALL of its non-essential assets and paid much more to the victims. This festering boil is only a symptom of the problems within the Archdiocese, starting with all of the Weakland-era initiatives and sympathizers. We can only guess at how much money was wasted during the decades-long Weakland reign on bogus projects, initiatives, horrible church “renovations”, pointless and overstaffed offices at the Cousins Center, and the list goes on.
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