Cardinal Timothy Dolan authorized payoffs to pedophile priests of as much as $20,000 each as an incentive to get them to quit or not contest firing, according to a report in today’s New York Times. Shockingly, the Vatican most likely would have to have approved the payments as well. Additionally, Dolan, at the time the Archbishop of Milwaukee, lied to the press, calling the accusation “false, preposterous and unjust.†Dolan is now the President of the USCCB, the Roman Catholic Church in America.
“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?,” SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement in response to the news.
This is yet another example of the Catholic Church using its vast resources not to help the poor, the needy, or the sick, but to further its perverted agenda which has little to do with furthering God’s work. As The New Civil Rights Movement reported last week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan is leading a lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s administration under the guise of First Amendment “religious liberty†over contraception.
The Times reports that “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. The process, known as “laicization,†is a formal church juridical procedure that requires Vatican approval, and can take far longer if the priest objects.
“It was a way to provide an incentive to go the voluntary route and make it happen quickly, and ultimately cost less,†said Jerry Topczewski, the spokesman for the archdiocese. “Their cooperation made the process a lot more expeditious.â€
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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 archdiocese was facing a flood of potential lawsuits by people claiming abuse, and the church’s insurance company was refusing to cover the costs because it said the church had been negligent. The minutes noted that “unassignable priests†— those suspected of abuse — were still receiving full salaries.
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.
Rather than pick up the phone and call the cops, Dolan essentially picked up his pen and wrote a check.
The Catholic Church in America and around the world, under strong and direct order from Pope Benedict XVI himself, has focused on working to defeat same-sex marriage, protect, hide, and even deny the existence of pedophile priests, and recently even told Catholics they should become more political, ignoring what the Bible teaches about politics. The Vatican recently also attacked America’s nuns for focusing on helping the poro, the needy, and the sick instead of working against same-sex marriage.
Last month, a top Archbishop began reaching out to form a coalition with other religions and called on them to join the Vatican in a worldwide holy war against gay marriage. In MarchThe New Civil Rights Movement reported that the Catholic Church had castrated at least 10 boys in the 1950s in an ungodly attempt to cure them of their homosexuality, or to punish them for accusing clergy members of sexual abuse.
Also in March, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech to Bishops from the United States and in it demanded their commitment in fighting same-sex marriage in America.