Cardinal Dolan: Off the Hook?

Political Anima

Catholic Cemetery

Chances are that unless you live in Milwaukee or read the Catholic press, you were not aware that a federal judge, Rudolph Randa, let Cardinal Dolan, former archbishop of Milwaukee, off the hook for moving $57 million dollars into a cemetery fund in order to protect the church's assets. Specifically, Dolan moved the money to prevent 575 plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases from accessing that money. Apparently, in Dolan's view, the church's money was more important than clergy sex abuse victims. On the other hand, according to reports, the Archbishop had paid cash to some abusive priests on the condition they leave the priesthood.

Archbishop Dolan has since become Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Arcbishop of New York and head of the U.S. Catholic Bishops.

Later, after the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for bankruptcy, it invoked the concept of  "religious liberty" in order to keep the transferred money from being available to the Church's creditors. Citing the Catholic belief in the resurrection of the body, Judge Randa agreed to protect the cemetery funds. Decaying bodies trump living humans.

Given this decision,  I expect the Catholic Church to become even more aggressive in claiming a "Catholic Exemption" from rules they don't like by appealing to "religious liberty." U.S Catholic bishops have been attempting "to exempt themselves from 'secular' obligations like non-discrimination or giving employees access to contraceptives." (Kilgore, 8,1,'13) One would think that a religion based on the Gospels would promote non-discrimination and the freedom of employees to follow the dictates of their own consciences; but, like all monolithic monarchies, the preservation of power and authority takes precedence.

Although the Church's money appears to be protected in the cemetery fund at present, the abuse victims are questioning whether Judge Randa, a Catholic, may have a vested interest in the cemetery business.

Others are simply perplexed by Judge Randa's decision and its justification. "Judge Randa's decision was so indefensible in so many ways that we suspected there was reason to investigate any involvement he might have with the cemeteries," said Marci Hamilton, a First Amendment scholar who is representing the creditors' committee on the issue.

If, after all is said and done, the Church is able to hang onto its precious money and stiff its creditors, it will have lost the battle in the eyes of the many who simply ask, "What would Jesus have done in a situation like this?"