Archbishop Dolan rips abuse attorney Anderson

February 15, 2011

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, blasted famed abuse attorney Jeffrey Anderson after Anderson suggested he hid $130 million in Milwaukee archdiocesan funds to prevent abuse victims from “being able to hold the archdiocese fully accountable.”

“I owe it to all of you — both the Catholic and wider community — to be very clear about the ridiculous and groundless gossip spread about me by a tort lawyer named Jeff Anderson,” Archbishop Dolan responded, adding:

I do want you to know that, when I arrived as archbishop, the financials showed that parishes had $70 million of their peoples’ money on deposit with the archdiocese. This was not archdiocesan money at all, but belonged to parishes. That’s why the finance council, and our outside professional auditors, advised me that it was inappropriate for the archdiocese to hold money for parishes, and that it should be returned to the parishes to which it belonged anyway. This was done, and publicly reported in the annual audit.

“The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has issued an enlightening statement speculating that this lawyer’s reckless charges also included ‘hiding’ the ‘cemetery fund,’ which, of course, by state law, is scrupulously protected, and cannot be touched or transferred by anybody,” he added.

 

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Further information:

• Groundless Gossip (The Gospel in the Digital Age)
• Dolan Calls Allegations Over Missing Milwaukee Funds "Reckless" (NY1)