CHARLESTON (WV)
Metro News
June 5, 2019
By Jeff Jenkins
Former Wheeling-Charleston Bishop Michael Bransfield regularly sexually harassed young priests he oversaw and committed financial improprieties during his 13 years of leading the Catholic Church in West Virginia.
The findings come from an investigation commissioned by the apostolic administrator of the Diocese and released in a letter to Catholic Church priests and church members Wednesday afternoon.
The letter written by Rev. William E. Lori, the Archbishop of Baltimore, who has served as Wheeling-Charleston Diocese apostolic administrator since Bransfield’s resignation last September, details the results of a five-month investigation by a five-member lay investigative team made up of both Catholics and non-Catholics.
Lori said after dozens of interviews with those who worked closely with Bransfield it was determined the allegations of sexual harassment of adults were credible.
“The team uncovered a consistent pattern of sexual innuendo, and overt suggestive comments and actions toward those over whom the former bishop exercised authority,” Lori said in Wednesday’s letter.
Lori said there was no conclusive evidence that Bransfield, 75, participated in sexual misconduct with minors.
According to Lori, the investigation also found Bransfield engaged in excessive and inappropriate spending including expensive renovations to residences in Wheeling and Charleston.
“The investigation further found that Bishop Bransfield misused Church funds for personal benefit on such things as personal travel, dining, liquor, gifts and luxury items,” Lori said.
A report published Wednesday afternoon in the Washington Post, 18 minutes after Lori released the letter to the church community, provides additional details about the investigation saying Bransfield gave cash gifts totaling more than $350,000 to fellow clergymen including those he was allegedly mistreating.
According to The Post, which was able to obtain the full investigative report, the cash gifts followed sexual harassment complaints from “younger male clerical assistants.”
File
Archbishop William Lori
Archbishop Lori was one of higher ranking members of the church to receive money from Bransfield. He disclosed that in Wednesday’s letter.
“In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel it necessary to acknowledge that I was periodically a recipient of financial gifts in varying amounts by Bishop Bransfield for various occasions over the years, including my installation as Archbishop of Baltimore in 2012 and annually at Christmas. These gifts totaled $7,500. In light of what I have come to learn of Bishop Bransfield’s handling of diocesan finances, I have returned the full amount to the Diocese and have asked that it be donated to Catholic Charities,” Lori wrote.
The Post, citing the investigative report, says Bransfield spent $2.4 million of the church’s money on travel and many of the trips were personal.
“Bransfield and several subordinates spent an average of nearly $1,000 a month on alcohol, it says. The West Virginia diocese paid $4.6 million to renovate Bransfield’s church residence after a fire damaged a single bathroom. When Bransfield was in the chancery, an administrative building, fresh flowers were delivered daily, at a cost of about $100 a day — almost $182,000 in all,” The Post reported.
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