NEW YORK
UCA News
Catholic News Agency
United States
February 26, 2014
In an attempt to both anticipate and deflect “potentially negative publicity,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has written a defense of his time as an auxiliary bishop of the St. Louis archdiocese.
“You know how I always try to alert you to any potentially negative publicity about the Church, or about me. Well, there could be some,” the cardinal wrote in a Feb. 18 blog post.
He noted that the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where he was ordained a priest and served as auxiliary bishop from 2001 to 2002, has “just complied with a court order to release the documents regarding cases there of sexual abuse of minors.”
“I would anticipate that my name will again be highlighted in the press,” he wrote. “I sure have nothing to hide, and am very much at peace with law enforcements officials reviewing the files. In fact, we already released all the documentation to them a dozen years ago!”
Last July, Cardinal Dolan criticized the repetition of “old and discredited attacks,” including the claim that he paid abusive priests to apply for laicization while he was Archbishop of Milwaukee. These payments, the cardinal said, were part of his duty to provide basic support for priests until they leave the priesthood.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.