MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter
Marie Rohde | Mar. 16, 2015
MILWAUKEE A retired Milwaukee priest, who is also a certified public account, is asking that the FBI to investigate why $7.8 million was spent by the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Cemetery Trust Fund over a four-year period during which the cemeteries operations generated net profits each year.
The priest, Fr. James Connell, told NCR that he contacted the archdiocese with his questions before sending his letter to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley who is handling the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by the archdiocese more than four years ago.
Connell, also a former vice chancellor for the archdiocese, said that archdiocesan spokesman Jerry Topczewski responded to his email saying that the funds were used solely as they were intended “but he gave me no explanation for where I was wrong or what I missed in their statements.”
“I have not seen the letter, but I’m not sure what standing Father [Connell] has with Judge Kelley,” Topczewski told NCR. “Nonetheless, the archdiocese’s financial statements, expenditures, etc., have been available to the creditors’ committee for more than 4 years and their accountants, BRG, have certainly scrutinized them.
“Regarding any money received from the cemetery perpetual care trust, those monies are used solely for the purpose for which they were intended – the perpetual care of archdiocesan cemeteries.”
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