Cardinal Timothy Dolan Allegedly Paid Suspected Pedophile Priests to Leave Ministry While Head of Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Press TV
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee confirmed Wednesday that it had a policy to pay suspected pedophile priests to leave the ministry. The acknowledgement was prompted by a document made public by abuse victims' advocates from the archdiocese's bankruptcy that references a 2003 proposal to pay $20,000 to "unassignable priests" who accepted a return to the laity. The policy was crafted under then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is now a cardinal and head of the archdiocese in New York. The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests characterizes the payments as a payoff and bonuses to priests who molested children. The archdiocese disputes that characterization, saying the payments were in part to more quickly move those men out of the priesthood. The group is calling on the archdiocese to release all records involving the payments and its handling of clergy sex abuse cases. "You don't give a bonus to a man who rapes children," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted SNAP Midwest director Peter Isely as saying Wednesday outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. "If they paid them anything it should have been for therapy and counseling." Huffington Post HIGHLIGHTS Isely said that up until at least 2010, priests accused of pedophilia were still being paid the money, typically divided into two payments of $10,000 - one when they began the process of laicization, and one when they completed it. abcnews.go.com Dolan left the Milwaukee archdiocese in 2009 to become archbishop of New York, the second largest diocese in the country, and in 2010 became the head of the conference of bishops, the most visible Catholic role in the country. Isely, of SNAP, wondered if Dolan now presided over similar arrangements in other dioceses. abcnews.go.com The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy last year. It faces potential lawsuits by 23 alleged abuse victims. newyork.cbslocal.com FACTS & FIGURES A Wisconsin priest, the Rev. Lawrence C Murphy, who taught at the former St. John School for the Deaf in the Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis, Wisconsin from 1950 to 1974, allegedly molested more than 200 deaf boys. minnesota.publicradio.org Several U.S. bishops warned the Vatican that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church. Murphy was moved by then Milwaukee Archbishop William E Cousins to Superior, Wisconsin, a small city near Lake Superior, where he spent his final 24 years working with children in parishes, schools and a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998. wn.com A 2003 report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that allegations of sexually assaulting minors had been made against 58 ordained men. abusedinwisconsin.com Father James Porter was a Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of molesting 28 children. He admitted sexually abusing at least 100 of both sexes over a period of 30 years, starting in the 1960s. churchabuselawblog.com On January 3, 2005 Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange apologized to 87 alleged victims of sexual abuse and announced a settlement of $100 million following two years of mediation. hollyhoodproductions.com In February of 2011, Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, was charged with child endangerment, marking the first time that a high-ranking official has been charged since the eruption of sex abuse scandals nearly ten years prior. philadelphia.cbslocal.com Monsignor William Lynn was found by a grand jury to have placed pedophiles in posts involving contact with children, which led directly to the sexual assault of two boys. Three priests and one teacher face rape charges. philadelphia.cbslocal.com
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