Milwaukee Archdiocese releases sex abuse related files

Flavor of the news from Milwaukee today is captured in several articles:

Milwaukee archdiocese releases files of sex-abuse complaints

Catholic World News
July 1, 2013

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has released thousands of pages of documents showing the response of archdiocesan leaders to sex-abuse complaints.

The documents-- which include the personnel files of priests accused of abuse and depositions of past and present archdiocesan officials—were made public on July 1 as part of an agreement with sex-abuse victims, brokered by a bankruptcy court.

"Needless to say, there are some terrible things described in many of the documents," Archbishop Jerome Listecki had said in a message to the faithful of Milwaukee, issued just before the documents were released. He warned his people that they should “prepare to be shocked.”

The documents show a pattern of archdiocesan neglect for sex-abuse victims and attempts to cover up evidence of clerical misconduct. The 6,000 pages of evidence will inevitably raise pointed questions about the priorities of Church leaders including the late Archbishop William Cousins and retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

Journalists will also carefully scrutinize the record of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who led the Milwaukee archdiocese from 2002 until his appointment to become Archbishop of New York in 2009. Although he is not accused of shuffling accused priests to new parishes, Cardinal Dolan could face questions about his decision to provide “severance payments” to priests who accepted laicization in order to cut their ties with the archdiocese, and his financial moves to shield assets from potential plaintiffs.

Cardinal Dolan denies moving church money in sex-abuse cases

Mary Murphy
PIX channel 11 (New York)
July 1, 2013

Timothy Cardinal Dolan lashed out at critics Monday who claimed he moved nearly $57 million dollars in church money into a trust, when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, so it wouldn’t be vulnerable to lawsuits filed by Catholics who said they were abused by Milwaukee priests.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee released more than six thousand documents Monday, part of a deal it reached in federal court with lawyers representing 570 people who have lawsuits pending against the Catholic Church there.

Dolan was appointed by the Vatican to clean up the Archdiocese in 2002, after the Church’s sexual abuse crisis among the clergy exploded in the United States, and then, around the world.

One of the documents released Monday was a letter written by then-Archbishop Dolan to the Vatican in 2007, seeking permission to transfer money from a cemetery fund into a trust. In the letter, dated June 4, 2007, Dolan wrote, “By transferring these assets to the trust, I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved the transfer, during a time when hundreds of lawsuits were being filed against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011, two years after Timothy Dolan left Milwaukee, appointed in 2009 as Archbishop of New York.

A 141-page transcript of Dolan’s videotaped deposition to victims’ lawyers was also released by Cardinal Dolan himself Monday, as well as the attorneys. The deposition was taken at the New York Catholic Center on February 20, 2013, six days before Cardinal Dolan flew to Rome to bid farewell to the retiring Pope Benedict XVI.

Before Benedict was elected Pope, he used to oversee all complaints of priest sexual abuse from around the world, and there’s a letter in the documents to then-Cardinal Ratzinger from Timothy Dolan, talking about a Milwaukee priest who should be removed from the ministry, because of sexual abuse complaints that were substantiated.

During the deposition, Cardinal Dolan was asked whether offending priests received pay-outs of $20,000, when they left the clergy. Dolan responded, “I would not call that a practice. I would not deny that that was done on occasion, but I would not call that a payoff or a settlement. But I would not deny that that was done, the fact that you mentioned. Was it a payoff, was it a settlement, was it an impetus, I wouldn’t say that, nor would I saw was it a normal practice, but it was done.”

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Full article at PIX11