The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been ordered to release 6000 pages of documents relating to the child sexual abuse scandal. The document disclosure is a result of lawsuits filed on behalf of 570 people.
One of the documents was a letter written by then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan to the Vatican in 2007. Dolan sought to transfer diocesan money into a cemetary trust fund. As he wrote, “By transferring these assets to the trust, I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.”
In other words, we can work a gimmick so the people we've abused can't get their hands on $57,000,000. The Vatican approved the transfer. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) asserts that Dolan's 2007 letter is the "smoking gun" which proves Dolan committed "bankruptcy fraud."
Dolan was promoted to archbishop of New York in 2009 and raised to the rank of cardinal. He was mentioned as "papabile"--potential pope--during the most recent papal conclave.
In addition Dolan had previously denied doing anything to hide funds while in Milwaukee. He was never in any danger of being elected Pope,but the American Church has looked to him as a front man - his public style is very warm and approachable the opposite of Egan's -- and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Posted by: Hypatia | July 05, 2013 at 11:19 PM