Documents released today in Milwaukee show that Catholic church leaders, including then archbishop Timothy Dolan, deliberately transferred $59 million to a trust in order to protect it from the claims of people who had been sexually abused by local priests, the Huffington Post reported yesterday. In a letter to a Vatican official, Dolan, now cardinal archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, explains that the move will provide "improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability." The Dolan letter, sent in 2007, is among 5,000 pages made public as part of a bankruptcy proceeding in which the $59 million trust is a point of contention for hundreds of people who have filed claims of clergy abuse. The files also include correspondence in which Dolan informs the Vatican that proposals to change statutes of limitations on sex abuse claims could adversely affect the Milwaukee archdiocese.
