Paying Off Pervert Priests: Was Cardinal Timothy Dolan Just Being a Good Catholic?

UNITED STATES
The Village Voice

By Victoria BekiempisThu., May 31 2012

Earlier today, the Voice brought you news that Cardinal Timothy Dolan paid pervert priests up to 20 grand as “incentive” to get them to leave their posts when he ran the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Here’s the thing: Dolan, according to Catholic law, might not have been doing anything wrong in authorizing this payoff. In fact, the canon might characterize this decision as being “a good Christian.”

This afternoon, we reached out to Msgr. Thomas J. Green, J.C.D., who teaches at Catholic University of America’s School of Canon Law and is an expert in the field.

We wanted to get a better sense of “laicization” — the technical term for when a priest or nun leaves the Church and becomes a layperson.

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