Cardinal Dolan Approved Pay Offs to Predator Priests

UPDATED:  Irish Central has yet more details on the unbelievable sleaziness of Cardinal Timothy "Porky Pig" Dolan.  It seems the minutes discovered in the bankruptcy filing papers revealed these additional tidbits:

During the meeting, Dolan and Milwaukee auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba discussed using the Church’s funds to pay off known pedophiles with $20,000 to leave the priesthood, setting up “restorative justice” to prevent victims receiving compensation, and moving millions of dollars from the archdiocese into a new “trust” before the Archdiocese declared bankruptcy.

The man truly ought to be facing criminal prosecution and possible perjury charges.

Cardinal Dolan of New York has been outspoken in parading around the myth that "religious liberty" is under attack particularly by the advancement of gay rights and the Obama administration.  I've long believed that in addition to demanding special rights for the Catholic Church (much as is going on in Canada at present) Dolan has been motivated by a desire to shift the topic of conversation from the cesspool nature of the Church hierarchy and the worldwide sex abuse scandal that shows no likelihood of abating any time soon.  Now, as the New York Times is reporting, information is coming out that while he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, Dolan approved monetary pay offs to predator priests after it became untenable to continue protecting them and covering up their crimes against children and youth.  Note how Dolan lied about these payments in the past.  Dolan is a loud mouthed hypocrite and hopefully more on his moral bankruptcy will continue to be revealed.  Here are highlights from the New York Times:

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive priests as an incentive for them to agree to dismissal from the priesthood when he was the archbishop of Milwaukee.
 

Questioned at the time about the news that one particularly notorious pedophile cleric had been given a “payoff” to leave the priesthood, Cardinal Dolan, then the archbishop, responded that such an inference was “false, preposterous and unjust.” 

But a document unearthed during bankruptcy proceedings for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and made public by victims’ advocates reveals that the archdiocese did make such payments to multiple accused priests to encourage them to seek dismissal, thereby allowing the church to remove them from the payroll.  A spokesman for the archdiocese confirmed on Wednesday that payments of as much as $20,000 were made to “a handful” of accused priests “as a motivation” not to contest being defrocked. 

Cardinal Dolan, who is president of the national bishops’ conference and fast becoming the nation’s most high-profile Roman Catholic cleric, did not respond to several requests for comment. 

A victims advocacy group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent a letter of protest to the current archbishop of Milwaukee on Wednesday asking, “In what other occupation, especially one working with families and operating schools and youth programs, is an employee given a cash bonus for raping and sexually assaulting children?” 

Experts in the Catholic Church’s response to sexual abuse say that payouts to dismissed priests are not uncommon. When a man becomes a priest, the church is expected to care for his needs for a lifetime.

The newly revealed document is the minutes of a meeting of the finance council of the Milwaukee archdiocese from March 7, 2003, which Cardinal Dolan attended. 

The minutes say that those at the meeting discussed a proposal to “offer $20,000 for laicization ($10,000 at the start and $10,000 at the completion the process).” Instead of salary, they would receive a $1,250 monthly pension benefit, and, until they found another job, health insurance. 

The first known payment in Milwaukee was to Franklyn Becker, a former priest with many victims.  .  .  .  .  According to church documents, Mr. Becker was accused of abusing at least 10 minors, and given a diagnosis of pedophilia in 1983.

Note that Becker was diagnosed as a pedophile in 1983 but it was 20 years later that he was finally being removed from the priesthood.  Yet again I ask, why does anyone listen to a word that comes out of Dolan's mouth?  The man is a sleaze bag at best.