Documents reveal Cardinal Dolan's struggle against pedophile and sexually abusive priests

Documents publicized in a Milwaukee court show that then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan oversaw a plan to pay accused abusers to leave the priesthood voluntarily after the Vatican reacted slowly to his frantic requests for help.

MILWAUKEE, WA (Catholic Online) - Documents publicized in court on Monday purport to show that then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, supervised a plan whereby priests accused of sexual misconduct were offered monetary settlements to leave the priesthood after the Vatican reacted slowly to calls for their removal.

The documents reveal that Dolan informed the Vatican of concerns regarding pedophile priests as they reached him, but the Vatican reacted very slowly to his repeated requests to defrock accused priests. Impatiently awaiting a response and anxious to protect children within his archdiocese, Dolan did what he could to remove these priests.

However, many in the media, those with mixed if not questionable motives, and some on the secualr left, including some victim's advocates, are crying foul.

Despite their adverse reaction to the news, attorneys explained that victims wanted to see the priests removed as quickly as possible, and Dolan's plan helped achieve that. Most of the accused priests were later prosecuted in criminal courts for their actions.

Dolan is an important target because he is now a cardinal, was considered as a possible candidate for the papacy, and is the current head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Dolan is also the point-man in the fight against the unconstitutional HHS contraception, sterilization and abortifacient mandate which would compel the Church to violate consciense or face the police power of the State.

There are many who have a tremendous interest in skewing the news and smearing the Cardinal.

The amounts of money paid to the priests ranged in the low tens of thousands of dollars with at least six leaving after being offered $10,000.

While the solution wasn't ideal, it was meant to be a stop-gap measure. Dolan repeatedly sent letters to the Vatican asking for help.

Interestingly, prosecutors noted that when Dolan sent another request to transfer pre-dedicated funds into another account as per an approved plan, the Vatican responded in less than a month.

Conversely, the Vatican moved very slowly in response to concerns about abusive priests and in some cases took years to resolve the issues.

This leaves many asking why Dolan simply did not contact the authorities and have accused priests arrested. The reason appears to have much to do with a Vatican culture and the fact that Church officials must answer to a higher authority in their doings. Even archbishops are limited in what they can do and prior to reforms, Vatican approval was required before drastic actions could be taken.

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This is a complaint that previous Los Angeles Archbishop Mahony also made.

The Vatican has since revised its stance on these critical matters and now encourages prompt reporting of these cases to the authorities. Meanwhile, Pope Francis is working to reform the curia and remove any officials he believes should be replaced for the good of the Church.

Despite the shortcomings of the past, the Church now does much to ensure the protection of children and is making amends for wrongs of the past.

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