MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Bruce Vielmetti and Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
In a blow to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in its ongoing bankruptcy, a federal appeals court on Monday put a $60 million cemetery trust fund back in play to potentially settle claims related to sexual abuse by priests.
The ruling from the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the church cannot use the First Amendment or a 1993 law aimed at protecting religious freedom to shield the funds.
The court also said the judge who put the money off limits, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, should have disclosed the fact his parents and other relatives are buried in a cemetery maintained by the trust fund. The court remanded the case to a different district court judge.
The decision reinstated the lawsuit filed by the bankruptcy creditors committee to recover what was originally a nearly $57 million transfer of money by then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan from the Archdiocese to a trust for the perpetual care of the church’s cemeteries. The lawsuit claimed that the transfer was a fraudulent attempt to shield the money in anticipation of a bankruptcy filing.
The archdiocese created the Catholic Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust in 2007; the Vatican approved the transfer of funds into it the following year.
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