The USCCB Is On The Case!
So they will dither and hurumph and say some pish along with some posh.
Washington D.C., Jun 6, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- When the U.S. bishops arrive in Baltimore next week for their second plenary meeting since a year of serious crisis began last June, they will do so under the specter of another demoralizing scandal. This one involves a well-connected bishop, a ledger of extravagant gifts, and allegations of abuse from priests and seminarians subject to the bishop’s authority.
The Washington Post reported June 5 that a months-long ecclesiastical investigation of Bishop Michael Bransfield, formerly of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, had uncovered evidence that the bishop had a reputation for being sexually inappropriate with seminarians and young priests, that he may have had a substance-abuse problem, and that he used diocesan funds generated from its Texas oil fields to support a lifestyle of luxury, and to give $350,000 in cash gifts to Vatican officials, fellow bishops, and other clerics.
More troubling, the Post’s report suggests that when seminarians and young priests raised concerns about Bransfield’s behavior, they were met with either indifference or an unwillingness of authorities to intervene.
Some Catholics have already noted that Bransfield’s gift-giving habit likely gives some indication of how Theodore McCarrick’s ecclesial career prospered during his decades of sexual abuse.
Don't worry. Cardinal Dolan is ALSO in the case.
Washington D.C., Jun 6, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- When the U.S. bishops arrive in Baltimore next week for their second plenary meeting since a year of serious crisis began last June, they will do so under the specter of another demoralizing scandal. This one involves a well-connected bishop, a ledger of extravagant gifts, and allegations of abuse from priests and seminarians subject to the bishop’s authority.
The Washington Post reported June 5 that a months-long ecclesiastical investigation of Bishop Michael Bransfield, formerly of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, had uncovered evidence that the bishop had a reputation for being sexually inappropriate with seminarians and young priests, that he may have had a substance-abuse problem, and that he used diocesan funds generated from its Texas oil fields to support a lifestyle of luxury, and to give $350,000 in cash gifts to Vatican officials, fellow bishops, and other clerics.
More troubling, the Post’s report suggests that when seminarians and young priests raised concerns about Bransfield’s behavior, they were met with either indifference or an unwillingness of authorities to intervene.
Some Catholics have already noted that Bransfield’s gift-giving habit likely gives some indication of how Theodore McCarrick’s ecclesial career prospered during his decades of sexual abuse.
Don't worry. Cardinal Dolan is ALSO in the case.
Timothy
Cardinal Dolan is dodging questions about what he’s done with cash he
received from former West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield, who left
his post in disgrace amid allegations he sexually harassed seminarians
and improperly spent church money.
Over
the 13 years Bransfield served as head of the West Virginia diocese, he
gave $350,000 in gifts to high-ranking Catholic officials ― money the
diocese ultimately reimbursed him for, according to a report from The Washington Post last week.
“It’s
incredibly problematic,” Zach Hiner, head of the Survivors Network of
Those Abused by Priests, said of the money. “It seems as if was done to
curry favor, or in the hopes that people who know something about you
won’t do anything about it.”
Bransfield’s
lavish living and generous gifts to fellow clergy were particularly
egregious in West Virginia, Hiner said, because of the extreme poverty
in the state.
Labels: Cardinal Dolan, USCCB
posted by jope @ June 10, 2019
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