Church drags feet on punishing sex-assaulting priest, but not on protecting $57M

When then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan sounded the alarm on abusive priests, the Roman Catholic Church dragged its feet — but when Dolan needed to protect tens of millions of dollars, the church acted without hesitation, bombshell documents revealed Monday.

The Vatican took only a month to give Dolan the go-ahead in 2007 to move $57 million into a trust in anticipation of an avalanche of sexual abuse lawsuits against the Milwaukee Archdiocese, which Dolan ran from 2002 to 2009.

But it took six years for Dolan to get the Vatican to defrock an out-of-control priest who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy.

The stunning revelations were contained in 6,000 pages of documents released Monday by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as part of its bankruptcy proceeding.

In 2003, Dolan — now the cardinal in New York and arguably the face of the Catholic Church in America — wrote Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who would go on to become Pope Benedict XVI...

Read more here


Showing 3 comments

  • Patricia Sulecki
    commented 2013-07-05 11:32:01 -0500
    This is only a suggestion" This Sex Abuse on Children from Priest" is Decades old and never to be an end in sight; unless we can have a REALITY SHOW every week allowing the people here in the USA & all over the world; how the sex abuse on victims from the Catholic Priest ruined our lives & family members included" getting it across to the people who have protected these Priest also the people who for many of years turned a blind eye or buried there heads in the sand and just ignored the sex abuse on children all together.Also; for so many years Snap has been trying to get The Statute of Limitation Abolished" so victims can get justice; not only with the lawsuits" but also to have the Priest arrested and be registered sex offenders; and Snap has been working many day’s" week’s" month’s" years" trying to help all victims of this abuse; The Vatican on down the chain" including our government" state officials have dragged their feet" or just didn’t want to believe that a man of the cloth could rape, molest, abuse children of the Catholic Religion.
    Like I stated" take away the black & white uniform with collar; and what do you have; A rapist; I believe that the Child Molester; found a loophole in the Religious System" become a Priest and be protected by the Oath & the Statute of limitation.
    I tried to go to the www.changetvnetwork.com,like you suggested’ so I could get involve" but it didn’t have any luck in finding the web page.
    Thank you.
  • Ray Goto
    commented 2013-07-05 09:45:38 -0500
    There is something that you can do. You know that the Bishops created a national review board, but did not allow this group to meet with parishioners at their church. I’m involved with a TV network that wants to do something about this obstruction of justice. They think change can occur, but on a church by church basis. They are recruiting Cathoics to go to their individual church to lobby for real change. ChangeTVNetwork intends to use tv technology to put all of the diverse churchs groups together. You can become involved too. Here is their website. They are just organizing the group that will produce the show on Catholic Abuse/Laity Review Board? Check it out: www.changetvnetwork.com.
  • Patricia Sulecki
    commented 2013-07-03 10:59:44 -0500
    I think everybody should read this article on" itccs webb page; Roman Church admits the Pope’s Guilt: Joseph Ratzinger to Evade Justice and Hide out in the Vatican for his own legal immunity and “protection”

    Posted on February 16, 2013 by itccs Latest Update – Interview with Kevin Annett by Alexander Backman Exclusive Breaking News: Friday February 15, 2013 12 midnight GMT An Urgent Update from the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) – Brussels Rome: In a statement to Reuters today, Vatican officials announced that Joseph Ratzinger will remain a permanent resident of Vatican City after his resignation. Doing so will offer him legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources said today “His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless;

SNAP Network is a GuideStar Gold Participant