Milwaukee Archdiocese Admits Paying Suspected Pedophiles To Leave Priesthood

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jun 4, 2012 8:40PM

The Archidiocese of Milwaukee says it paid priests to leave the ministry after they'd been accused of pedophilia. The archdiocese says the $20,000 payoffs were a means to hasten their departure, but critics call them bonuses for molesting children.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011, and a document from the proceedings "refers to a 2003 proposal to pay $20,000 to "unassignable priests" who accepted a return to the laity."

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes:

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests characterized the payments as payoffs and bonuses to priests who molested children, noting it was just $10,000 less than the $30,000 the archdiocese hoped to pay victims, according to the same document. And it called on church authorities on Wednesday to release all records involving the payments and its handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

"You don't give a bonus to a man who rapes children," SNAP Midwest director Peter Isely said outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. "If they paid them anything it should have been for therapy and counseling."

Then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan authorized the police. He is now a cardinal and head of the archdiocese in New York.