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| Obama, Dolan, Romney, Oct. 2012, Reuters |
8/4/15, "330 to Share $21 Million in Abuse Settlement With Milwaukee Archdiocese," NY Times, Mitch Smith
"Leaders
of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Tuesday that they
had reached a $21 million settlement with hundreds of victims of sexual
abuse by clergy members, though the agreement is still subject to
approval by a federal judge.
The
archdiocese, which has been entangled in bankruptcy proceedings since
2011, reached the deal after years of sometimes bitter negotiations.
Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki said the settlement, if approved by the
court, would end the bankruptcy case.
“Today,
we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a
new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love,” Archbishop Listecki
said in a statement.
Mike
Finnegan, a lawyer whose Minnesota law firm represents most of the
victims, said the settlement amount should have been higher and
criticized the archdiocese’s legal tactics. The settlement was “not a
victory for survivors,” he said, but was better than the alternatives
likely in bankruptcy court.
“This archdiocese has fought more aggressively than any other in the country” facing sexual abuse claims, Mr. Finnegan said.
The
$21 million will be shared among 330 abuse survivors, the archdiocese
said. Payment amounts will vary, with a court-appointed administrator
determining how much each person receives. The settlement also calls for
a $500,000 therapy fund for abuse survivors.
The
sexual abuse allegations against Wisconsin clergy are among many across
the country that have led to large settlements and criticism of the
Catholic Church. The San Diego diocese reached a settlement of nearly
$200 million with 144 people in 2007. The diocese in Wilmington, Del.,
settled for $77 million with 146 abuse victims in 2011.
The
Milwaukee archdiocese said its agreement with the victims would be
detailed in court filings later this month, and likely reviewed by a
judge in November. Mr. Finnegan said he expects the settlement to be
approved.
Archbishop
Listecki said the possibility of exiting bankruptcy court after more
than four years was a welcome development, and he offered conciliatory
words for the victims in his statement.
“This
settlement represents for us in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee a new
Pentecost, a day of rebirth that renews our focus on word, worship and
service,” the archbishop said. “We do so remembering those who have been
harmed; keeping them in our prayers; supporting them through therapy
and healing; promising never to forget the evil that has been done; and
working diligently to ensure this never happens again.”"
"A version of this article appears in print on August 5, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: 330 to Share $21 Million in Abuse Settlement With Milwaukee Archdiocese."
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Above image from 2014 UK Daily Mail article, caption: "Cardinal Dolan, pictured here with Barack Obama in New York in 2012, told American television that Pope Francis wants church leaders to 'look into same sex unions and see the reasons that have driven them'," Reuters
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7/1/2013, "Dolan Sought to Protect Church Assets, Files Show," NY Times, Laurie Goodstein
"Files
released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday
reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop
there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million
into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy
sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.
Cardinal
Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has emphatically denied seeking
to shield church funds as the archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009.
He reiterated in a statement Monday that these were “old and
discredited attacks.”
However,
the files contain a 2007 letter to the Vatican in which he explains
that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of
these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved
the request in five weeks, the files show.
The release of more than 6,000 pages of documents on Monday was hailed by victims and their advocates as a vindication and a historic step toward transparency and accountability. They were well aware that the archives would bring unusually intense scrutiny to the country's most high-profile prelate, Cardinal Dolan, who as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the archbishop of New York has sought to help the church turn the corner on the era of scandal.
Cardinal
Dolan has been regarded by many Catholics as part of the solution. In
public appearances, he has expressed personal outrage at the harm done
to children, apologized profusely and pledged to help the church and the
victims heal.
But
the documents lift the curtain on his role as a workaday church
functionary concerned with safeguarding assets, persuading abusive
priests to leave voluntarily in exchange for continued stipends and
benefits, and complying with Rome’s sluggish canonical procedures for
dismissing uncooperative priests who he had long concluded were
remorseless and a serious risk to children.
In one case, the Vatican
took five years to remove a convicted sex offender from the priesthood.
“As
victims organize and become more public, the potential for true scandal
is very real,” he wrote in such a request in 2003 to Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican office charged with handling abuse
cases until he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
Victims
on Monday called for a federal investigation into the actions of
Cardinal Dolan and his predecessors, but the cardinal sought to deflect
criticism by saying in a statement Monday that he welcomed the release of the documents.
The
current archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome E. Listecki, had announced his
decision to release the documents in April, one day before a judicial
hearing. Lawyers for abuse victims had asked a judge to compel their
release.
Archbishop Listecki released a letter
last week warning Catholics in his archdiocese that the documents could
shake their faith, and trying to explain the actions of church leaders
while offering apologies to victims.
“Prepare to be shocked,” he wrote. “There are some graphic descriptions about the behavior of some of these priest offenders.” The
files include documents from the personnel files of 42 clergy offenders
with “substantiated” allegations, going back 80 years.
(The names and
identifying features of victims were redacted.)
Also included are the
legal depositions of Cardinal Dolan and another former Milwaukee
archbishop, Rembert Weakland, and a retired auxiliary bishop, Richard J.
Sklba.
Milwaukee
harbored some of the nation’s most notorious priest pedophiles,
including the Rev. Lawrence Murphy, whom a church therapist assessed as
having molested as many as 200 boys during his two and a half decades
teaching and leading St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis,
Wis., and Sigfried Widera, who faced 42 counts of child abuse in
Wisconsin and California. Father Murphy died in 1998, and Father Widera
committed suicide in Mexico in 2003.
In
his letter, Archbishop Listecki said the documents showed that 22
priests were “reassigned to parish work after concerns about their
behavior were known to the archdiocese,” and that 8 of those “reoffended
after being reassigned.”
Advocates
for abuse victims objected that the archdiocese did not release the
files of many others accused of abuse, including priests, deacons, nuns,
schoolteachers and choir directors. The files do not include any known
priest offenders who were members of religious orders (like the
Capuchins or Jesuits) who served in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
“It’s
still less than a complete disclosure, but it’s a giant step in the
right direction,” said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer for many of the alleged
victims. The documents were posted on both his Web site and the archdiocese’s, but they were arranged differently to buttress each argument.
Cardinal Dolan was deposed
about his handling of abuse cases and the assets of the archdiocese in
February, just before he left for Rome for the conclave to elect a new
pope. The release of the documents is the byproduct of a bitter standoff
in bankruptcy court between the Milwaukee Archdiocese and 575 men and
women who have filed claims against it alleging that priests or other
church employees had sexually abused them.
The
archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it was the best way to
compensate the victims and resolve the controversy. It became the
eighth Catholic diocese in the United States to do so. Since then,
negotiations between the two sides in Milwaukee have broken down: the
church has argued that about 400 of the 575 cases are invalid, while
lawyers for the victims have accused the church of hiding assets.
In
January, the archdiocese said it had spent about $9 million in legal
and other fees in the bankruptcy process and was going broke. In
2007, the year Cardinal Dolan asked to transfer the funds, the
Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision that in effect lifted an
unusual law that had long shielded the church from sexual abuse
lawsuits. When he was later accused of trying to shield church funds, Cardinal Dolan said on his blog in New York
that it was “malarkey” and “groundless gossip.” Archbishop Listecki and
former Auxiliary Bishop Sklba invoked a theme that many other church
officials have used in the past to explain their conduct: that their
missteps reflected a broader lack of awareness about child sexual abuse
in society.
Archbishop
Listecki wrote that he did not want to make excuses, but that church
officials had relied on the advice of doctors and therapists who were
“seemingly more concerned about ‘Father’ than about the children.” He
said the documents would reveal “the progression and evolution of
thinking on this topic.”
However,
the Rev. James Connell, a priest in the Milwaukee Archdiocese who
helped to form a group called Catholic Whistleblowers, said in an
interview that he did not find this claim credible.
“I
was in high school in the 1950s,” he said, “and I learned about
statutory rape in high school. An adult having sexual activity with a
minor is a crime. We knew about it then, so you can’t claim that social
thought changed.”"
An article on Tuesday about more than 6,000 pages of documents released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee misstated the surname of a Milwaukee priest who helped to form the group Catholic Whistleblowers. He is James Connell, not O’Connell."
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NY Times "Related Coverage"
Milwaukee Archdiocese Asks Supreme Court to Weigh In on Fund
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