MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin
Dolan returns to the Milwaukee Archdiocese as Catholics learn more about his cover up of clergy sex crimes
New Cardinal plans to celebrate his promotion, not explain his stewardship of diocese which led to bankruptcy
Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
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Former Milwaukee Archbishop, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York will return to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee this weekend to celebrate his promotion to the College of Cardinals. Dolan will preside at a Mass of Thanksgiving and attend other celebrations to be held in his honor arranged by himself and church officials from Milwaukee and New York.
Amid the orchestrated fanfare, however, Dolan is unlikely to address his pivotal role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, which after decades is still unfolding in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Dolan, who promised to Catholics during his tenure here that the church would be transparent and accountable returns to an archdiocese that is suffering the consequences of his failure to do both. (For a fact sheet on Dolan’s record handling sex abuse cases click here)
Dolan, when in Milwaukee, never disclosed to Catholics the true nature and extent of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the archdiocese– the number of crimes committed, who committed those crimes, and which church officials covered them up. Only now as a result of revelations in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed soon after Dolan left, are we learning the magnitude of the rape and sexual assault of children that took place in the Archdiocese.
At least 8,000 instances of child sexual assault and abuse likely occurred in the archdiocese over the last several decades, according to court records. And the identities and whereabouts of at least 100 child sex offenders employed or ministering in the archdiocese remain unknown to the public—100 more than the 44 offenders that Dolan claimed was the total number.
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