Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s True Legacy

The Dolan Dossier on what the Cardinal doesn’t want you to know:

Over the past two decades, Cardinal Dolan led the archdiocese in two major metropolitan American cities (Milwaukee and New York City). What he doesn’t want you to know is his focus on three “C’s:” Cover up, Conceal, and avoid Compensating victims of church sex abuse.

Below is a timeline of the lengths Cardinal Timothy Dolan has gone to protect the Church at all costs, while rapidly growing the Church’s bank accounts.

A TIMELINE OF CARDINAL DOLAN'S TRUE LEGACY

2002

Dolan installed as Archbishop of Milwaukee.

Dolan paid $20,000 to abusive priests who agreed not to fight their dismissal from the priesthood. Records indicated that the practice of “paying off” abusive priests dated back to at least 1995.

2003

Dolan warns the Vatican: “As victims organize and become more public, the potential for a true scandal is very real.”

2004

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee publishes a list of 43 abusive priests on its website.

2005

Dolan letter to Archbishop Angelo Amato of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that now-defrocked Father John C. Wagner was continuing to have unsupervised contact with minors and was continuing to re-offend. 

2007

Dolan sought Vatican approval to move nearly $57 million in cemetery funds off the archdiocese’s books and into a trust to help protect them “from any legal claim or liability”, according to documents. The Vatican granted its permission for the transfer of the cemetery funds 17 days later.

SNAP called the transfer a “smoking gun” and proof of a fraudulent transfer under U.S. bankruptcy law and called on James Santelle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, to investigate.

2009

Dolan installed as the Archbishop of New York.

2010

Dolan allows then-Harlem Pastor Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, accused of sexually assaulting more than 10 boys, to resign two years after the allegations of abuse. 

2011

Dolan thanks the President of the Catholic League for issuing a press release that called the organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) “liars” and a “phony victims’ group.”

2016

Dolan introduces the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program in effort to counter arguments in favor of the Child Victims Act. According to Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer Dolan appointed to administer the program in NYC and Long Island who privately pitched to representatives of three Upstate New York Dioceses: 

“The whole point is to get the release, so we offer $10,000. In Buffalo, maybe $5,000,” Feinberg said. “Get the release. We want to be able to show Albany that people are accepting this money and signing releases. You don’t need to change the statute.”

2018

Sale of Fidelis Care at $3.75B created the “Mother Cabrini Health Foundation”, a nonprofit with a stated mission of providing care to low-income and vulnerable populations.

2019

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signs Childs Victims Act.

Archdiocese of New York (ADNY) releases names of 120 priests and deacons accused of sexually abusing a child or having child pornography in the latest revelations in the Catholic Church’s long-running sex abuse epidemic, critics note list does not detail when accusations were made, where the abuse occurred or what was done after an accusation was made.

2019

Los Angeles real estate firm buys shuttered church site in New York City for $40M.

2023

St. Patrick’s Cathedral sells air rights for $164M

2024

ADNY under contract to sell vacant lot in East Village for $58M

ADNY plans to sell 124-yr old East Harlem church to property developer for $5M

ADNY sells office space to developer for $100M

ADNY announces layoffs of 18 staffers to pay for Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, said to save $1.5M

ADMISSION OF GUILT SHOULD EQUAL IMMEDIATE COMPENSATION NOT MORE COURT HEARINGS

2025

ADNY Chelsea church under contract to sell to a developer for $48M

With hundreds of millions of dollars on the table, there is ZERO EXCUSE the Archdiocese of New York can legitimately give to stall the just and rightful compensation any longer – it’s time for ADNY to drop the lawsuits and fairly compensate the hundred of victims of sexual abuse and assault NOW.

It's time to hold the Archdiocese of New York accountable for its actions. Join us.

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RESOURCES

Report Abuse | Archdiocese of New York
Report Bishop Abuse
Report to an Attorney General or Grand Jury Investigation
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
BishopAccountability.org