Second Controversial Ruling by Federal Judge in Milwaukee Further Shields Dolan from Fraud Investigation

By Peter Isely
The SNAP Wisconsin
October 23, 2013

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Federal Judge Rudolph Randa has issued a second controversial ruling today in the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy case that could further shield New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan from the legal and public consequences of a pattern of fraudulent practices and conduct related to clergy child sex abuse cases while he was in charge of the Milwaukee Archdiocese from 2002 to 2010.

The decision comes weeks after Randa refused to recuse himself from rendering decisions in the archdiocese bankruptcy despite both he and his family having strong connections to the archdiocese.

In his decision today, Randa ruled that a deaf survivor of the notorious Fr. Lawrence Murphy must abide by an agreement he entered into in an archdiocesan run settlement program, even though he was deceived in order to secure that agreement.

The program was designed by former Archbishop Dolan in 2003 in an effort to secure victim settlements while, according to victims, deliberately misleading them as to the archdiocese’s prior knowledge of the criminal history of the abuser. At the same time, it induced victims to accept nominal restitution in exchange for waving all future legal rights. If the victim would later discover they had been deceived by Dolan and the archdiocese, as we now know they were, no legal remedy would be available.

For instance, court ordered released documents show that Dolan and the archdiocese misled both victims and the public about their true knowledge of Murphy’s history of assaulting deaf children and when they knew it.

Dozens of the 570 victims who filed cases in the bankruptcy entered into fraudulently induced agreements with the archdiocese, with the direction and approval of Dolan.

In an earlier decision similarly shielding the court from investigating Dolan’s possible fraudulent conduct, Randa supported Dolan’s transfer of $57 million of Milwaukee Archdiocese monies into a “cemetery trust”, thus eliminating it as an asset prior to the bankruptcy filing.  Overturning a decision issued earlier by bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley, Randa ruled Dolan’s transfer could not be examined or investigated by the court because, even if fraudulent under US law, if the archdiocese says it was legal under Catholic “canon law” it is protected by the 1^st amendment of the US Constitution and the free exercise of religion.  Church documents obtained since the transfer, including correspondence between Dolan and the Vatican, show that Dolan created the trust to keep US courts from compensating victims.

Both of Randa’s decisions are being appealed.