Cardinal Dolan asked for, and got, permission to move money to shield it from child rape lawsuits

[dsc]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/us/dolan-sought-vatican-permission-to-shield-assets.html?hp&_r=2&

Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.

Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has emphatically denied seeking to shield church funds as the archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009. He reiterated in a statement Monday that these were “old and discredited attacks.”

However, the files contain a letter he wrote to the Vatican in 2007, in which he explains that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved the request in five weeks, the files show.

snip

The Milwaukee archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it was the best way to compensate the victims and resolve the controversy. It became the eighth Catholic diocese in the United States to do so. Since then, negotiations between the two sides in Milwaukee have broken down: the church has argued that about 400 of the 575 cases are invalid, while lawyers for the victims have accused the church of hiding assets.

In January, the archdiocese said it had spent about $9 million in legal and other fees in the bankruptcy process and was going broke.

In 2007, the year Cardinal Dolan requested to transfer the funds, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision that in effect lifted an unusual law that had long shielded the church from sexual abuse lawsuits. When he was later accused of trying to shield church funds, Cardinal Dolan said on his blog in New York that it was “malarkey” and “groundless gossip.” Archbishop Listecki and former Auxiliary Bishop Sklba invoked a theme that many other church officials have used in the past to explain their conduct: that their missteps reflected a broader lack of awareness about child sexual abuse in society.

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This disgusting pimp of alter boys has the unmitigated gall to lecture gays who want to get married as being immoral. This disgusting pimp of alter boys has the unmitigated gall to lecture women who want health care. This disgusting pimp of alter boys has the unmitigated gall to lecture those who want to use condoms. Really?

[ananda]

1. That is so disgusting.

It just breaks my heart what the church has become... and it was never all that good.

[Omaha Steve]

2. YES it is

[rurallib]

3. Imagine - a man of gawd lying

never heard of such a thing.

[Dawson Leery]

4. Filth.

[Apophis]

5. The Catholic Church is the most disgusting organization on the planet.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I know this is not popular here, but I boycott Stephen Colbert for his role in

promoting this disgusting pimp of boys and officious liar.
The comedian Stephen Colbert and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York bantered onstage Friday night before 3,000 cheering, stomping, chanting students at Fordham University, in what might have been the most successful Roman Catholic youth evangelization event since Pope John Paul II last appeared at World Youth Day.
Cardinal Dolan was introduced as a man who might one day be elected pope, to which he said, “If I am elected pope, which is probably the greatest gag all evening, I’ll be Stephen III.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/nyregion/stephen-colbert-and-cardinal-cardinal-timothy-dolan-at-fordham-university.html?_r=0