Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese Confirms Paying off Troubled Priests to Leave

WTAQ
May 30, 2012

http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/may/30/milwaukee-catholic-archdiocese-confirms-paying-off-troubled-priests-to-leave/

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MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) - The Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese confirms that it paid priests who were suspected of sexual abuse to leave their ministries.

That's after a document in the church's current bankruptcy case described a proposal from 2003 to pay $20,000 to what were called "unassignable priests."

Julie Wolf said the payments were intended to speed up the departure process for pedophile priests, in response to critics who demanded that all abusive priests be defrocked.

The Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests called it payoff for child molesting priests. And it demanded that the archdiocese release all records about the payments, and other details on how the Milwaukee church handled sex abuse cases.

Wolf said the payments were intended to help the departing priests get accustomed to their new lives outside the ministry.