Cardinal Dolan Deposed On Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy

As New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan heads to Rome to help choose a new pope, some of his actions as Milwaukee Archbishop a few years ago continue to affect the Milwaukee church’s bankruptcy case.

Dolan has become a Catholic leader in the U.S., but he was still interviewed for three hours this week in New York in a legal deposition connected to the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy. Dolan’s office says he talked about his decision as Milwaukee archbishop a few years ago to publicize the names of abusive priests. But Peter Isley, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says the deposition was much broader.

“[Dolan] was deposed because he had transferred millions of dollars – before the archdiocese declared bankruptcy – into accounts to put them off the books and declare bankruptcy. That’s why he was deposed.”

Isley is calling for the deposition to be made public and says a Milwaukee bankruptcy judge could order the release this spring. Meanwhile, during a three-hour court hearing yesterday, Judge Susan Kelley and attorneys for the various parties heatedly discussed how to determine how much of the church’s insurance money might be available to help abuse victims. Those victims – some of them abused at a school for the deaf – have watched the bankruptcy case move into its third year.