"As victims organize and become more public, the potential for true scandal is very real" ~Letter to the Vatican from Cardinal Timothy Dolan
In 2003, THIS was the main concern of this "Man of God". A Scandal. Oh wait, I mean "true scandal". He wrote to inform the Vatican that we can't keep it under wraps any longer.
It wasn't the children who were raped over decades that he was concerned about. It wasn't the innocent lives that were ripped apart, the hundreds, perhaps thousands of souls that were lost to drugs, alcohol, and suicide because of the heinous acts of the men in his diocese - oh no, the biggest concern for Cardinal Dolan? MONEY.
America's most senior Roman Catholic cleric obtained permission from the Vatican to move $57 million (£38 million) of church funds into a trust to shield it from sexual abuse victims seeking compensation.
As I wrote yesterday, the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee released over 6000 pages of documents - their Child Sex Abuse Files as well as a List of Offending Priests. And Cardinal Dolan's fingerprints are all over many of those documents.
Paying Pedophiles to Play elsewhere
The documents provide new details on Dolan's plan to pay some abusers to leave the priesthood...
At least three priests accused of sexual abuse received payments when they left the priesthood before Dolan's arrival, according to the documents. Six more left under Dolan, accepting the archdiocese's offer of $10,000 when they voluntarily agreed to leave and another $10,000 when Vatican officials announced their decision about the priest's future.
Hiding money from victims
...as the Milwaukee archdiocese prepared to file for bankruptcy amid dozens of abuse claims [Cardinal Dolan requested to] move $57 million into a trust for "improved protection". A Vatican office approved the request to move the money.
In a statement released Monday, Dolan called any such suggestion an "old and discredited" attack.
[However,] in his letter to the Vatican, Dolan wrote, "By transferring these assets to the Trust, I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability."
Children were raped. And trust me, no amount of money is going to fix that. But to see the blatant disregard for their care is sickening. To see, in black and white, that the Church cares only about CASH and not it's CHILDREN leaves me speechless.
Pedophile priests? No problem, here - take some money, we'll take care of your medical and your dental and your housing stipend for the rest of your lives...oh, and we won't even report you to the police.
You are free to move about the country and RAPE OTHER CHILDREN...