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Milwaukee — The cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York, in his former job, warned the future Pope Benedict XVI that “the potential for true scandal is very real” over sex abuse claims, according to documents released on Monday. Former Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan — now president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the nation’s most prominent Roman Catholic official — sought to push problem priests out of the priesthood after people began coming forward with abuse claims in the early 2000s.
Dolan wrote to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, in July 2003 asking to dismiss Daniel Budzynski. Abuse allegations against Budzynski stretched back to the 1970s, and Dolan told Ratzinger that “as victims organise and become more public, the potential for true scandal is very real”.
The Vatican removed Budzynski from the priesthood in 2004. Monday’s release of about 6 000 pages of Milwaukee archdiocese documents has drawn national attention because of Dolan’s involvement. The archdiocese released them as part of a deal reached in federal bankruptcy court with clergy sex abuse victims suing it for fraud. Victims say the archdiocese transferred problem priests to new churches without warning parishioners and covered up priests’ crimes for decades.
Dolan has not been accused of transferring problem priests, and he took over as archbishop in Milwaukee in mid-2002, after many victims had already come forward. But there have been questions about his response to the crisis.
Dolan also sought permission from a Vatican office to move $57m into a trust for “improved protection” as the Milwaukee archdiocese prepared to file for bankruptcy amid dozens of abuse claims, according to the documents. The Vatican office granted the request.
The victims’ attorneys have accused Dolan of trying to hide the money. In a statement released on Monday, Dolan called any suggestion he was trying to shield money from victims an “old and discredited” attack. Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for current Archbishop Jerome Listecki, said the money was always set aside in a separate fund for cemetery care, and moving it to a trust just formalised that. — AP
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