MILWAUKEE (WI)
The Guardian (UK)
[the documents – Jeff Anderson & Associates]
[the documents – Milwaukee archdiocese]
Sadhbh Walshe
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 July 2013
On Monday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee released 6,000 pages of documents pertaining to the church’s handling of decades of allegations of child sex abuse by priests. In a blog post on his website, the current archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome Listecki, said he hoped that by “voluntarily making the documents public” they will help abuse victims and their families to understand the past, review the present and allow the church to move forward. The documents certainly offer a unique insight into the past and present, but are far more likely to confirm what survivors have long suspected: that the church is far more interested in protecting its assets and reputation than it was or is in protecting them.
It would be nice to think that the disclosure indicates a new willingness by the church to be more transparent and open about its handling of sex abuse within its ranks, but Archbishop Listecki’s claim that the documents were released “voluntarily” appears to be something of a misrepresentation at best. According to Jeff Anderson, an attorney who has been working with many abuse survivors, the archdiocese only “volunteered” to release the documents (after years of fighting to keep them sealed) on the eve of a judicial hearing in bankruptcy court was likely to have compelled them to do so.
In 2011, facing 575 cases of abuse filed against them, the Milwaukee archdiocese initiated bankruptcy proceedings, prompting claims by victims’ lawyers that the move was simply an attempt to avoid having to pay compensation. Some explosive disclosures in the released documents add quite a bit of substance to these claims.
In 2007 Cardinal Tim Dolan, then acting archbishop of Milwaukee, wrote to the Vatican requesting permission to move over $56mn in assets to a cemetery trust fund. The letter included this nugget:
“By transferring these assets to the trust, I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.”
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