Milwaukee Archdiocese Moved to Shift Funds Before Bankruptcy

Archdiocese of Milwaukee records made public Monday show that then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan sought permission from the Vatican in 2007 to move nearly $57-million in assets off the church’s books, citing concerns about “legal claim and liability,” the Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee and The New York Times report.

Now-Cardinal Dolan, currently archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, served in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009. Weeks before a July 2007 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to lawsuits over alleged sex abuse by clergy, he wrote to the Vatican about shifting church resources into a cemetery trust fund, a proposal Rome approved.

The letter is included in thousands of pages of files unsealed in connection with the Milwaukee archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceeding, initiated in 2011. Lawyers for many of the 575 men and women who have filed claims alleging molestation by priests and other church employees have accused the archdiocese of trying to hide its assets.

Cardinal Dolan has denied seeking to shield church funds during his Milwaukee tenure, and he said in a statement Monday that such claims were “old and discredited attacks.”