Althouse: "The care and maintenance of the Milwaukee Catholic cemeteries are a fundamental belief of the Catholic faith, and this decision casts a shadow over religious freedom."

March 11, 2015

"The care and maintenance of the Milwaukee Catholic cemeteries are a fundamental belief of the Catholic faith, and this decision casts a shadow over religious freedom."

"These are sacred places that require perpetual care, and the trust believes both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protect the exercise of these specific religious beliefs."

But the trust lost in the 7th Circuit yesterday, and that means that $55 million has become available to pay claims brought by victims of sexual abuse against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

25 comments:

Gusty Winds said...: What percentage of the settlement money do the lawyers get?; 3/11/15, 7:22 AM
Michael K said...: Who wants to maintain cemeteries when there are lawsuits that can make people rich ?; 3/11/15, 7:30 AM
wildswan said...: People gave money for the care of the graves of family members. This is not an article of Catholic belief. However having the graves of family members lie untended in order to pay for the actions of Weakland's pedophile pet priests is outrageous. Weakland also embezzled while he was Archbishop.

At the time of the Renaissance someone made their favorite horse a cardinal. In Milwaukee we had a horse's ass as Archbishop and we are still paying to clean out the stable.; 3/11/15, 7:38 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Surely -- out of the hundreds of kids involved -- there was one child who saw anal sex with a priest as a positive thing.

Just looking at the numbers here.

I am Laslo.; 3/11/15, 7:58 AM
Mark said...: Never mind that the judges parents are in one of the affected cemeteries, this is Wisconsin where right wing judges never recuse themself.; 3/11/15, 8:00 AM
tim maguire said...: Rough justice, but justice. The plaintiffs have a smoking gun that the creation of this trust was motivated in part by a desire to shield the money from court judgments. It may take a few more decades for the Catholic Church to crawl out from under the weight of the mess they made, but they made the mess, they own it.; 3/11/15, 8:16 AM
gerry said...: In the early Soviet Union, graves were opened by the revolutionaries and the dead were robbed.

Meanwhile, 2,500 teachers were punished in five years for sexually abusing their charges, while Georgetown University reports that current accusations against Catholic priests are extremely rare.; 3/11/15, 8:39 AM
Gusty Winds said...: wildswan said, "People gave money for the care of the graves of family members."

Calvary across from Miller Park on I-94 inters 80,000 of Milwaukee's Catholics. Many Irish. There are People who landed in the 3rd ward escaping the potato famine, veterans and their families from both World War generations, including some great icons: Solomon Juneau, Patrick Cudahy, Frederick Miller, and many souls lost in the Lady Elgin disaster of 1860. It is built around "Jesuit Hill" which is the highest natural point in Milwaukee County. It is a place of great historical significance.

The church is made up of its members. They are footing the bill for the sins of a failed leadership. A settlement must be paid by the archdiocese, no doubt.

Last I read, they had reached an $8 to $10 Mil number with Lloyds, with half going to victims, and half for administrative fees for the case. I have no idea what the right settlement number is for these crimes and sins committed by the clergy.

But this $55 Mil seems like more of a windfall for the lawyers, and quite unfair to the members who really define the church.

Wonder what percentage will be paid to these altruistic lawyers?

What's next? Do they go after the weekly contributions dropped in the hat by the parishioners?; 3/11/15, 8:40 AM
traditionalguy said...: Why knee jerk attack good lawyers???

Did the lawyers who fought and won the case molest so many altar boys? No, they are the only ones who cared enough to catch the carefully covered up predatory priests with their cassocks down.; 3/11/15, 8:41 AM
Gusty Winds said...: traditional guy said, "Did the lawyers who fought and won the case molest so many altar boys?"

No they didn't.

But neither did the parishioners who will pay the bills.

What is the lawyers take? 30%?

Do you really think they are pursuing the $55 Mil out of the goodness of their hearts?; 3/11/15, 9:22 AM
wildswan said...: The liberals in the Milwaukee church led by Archbishop Weakland insisted that gays could serve as priests. And they covered up the result - predatory assaults on young boys. And consequently there are huge monetary judgments outstanding against the diocese of Milwaukee which are to be met by any means possible including by taking the money donated to maintain family gravesites. Fifty percent of this money is to go to lawyers.

This is the precedent.

And as long as you think that liberal Catholics are some sort of vile group outside the normal run of human nature, then that is that. It won't happen in the Boy Scouts, it won't happen in adoptions, and it won't be covered up when it does happen. There won't be pedophile rings and their enablers in any group except the liberal Catholic priesthood.

And that is fortunate because you can see how damaging it is - first to the young victims and then afterwards to the group the pedophiles used and to the true mission of the group that was used as cover.

But, however, the lawyers will be OK like cockroaches after atomic war or like the Clintons after anything. So that's good.; 3/11/15, 9:26 AM
Simon said...: I tend to think along the lines of Wildswan's comment. The injustice of it all is that the tab that was run up by Archbishop Weakland and that which festered on his watch does not fall on him, or, frankly, even on his successors: It rests, ultimately, on the shoulders of the ordinary Catholics of Milwaukee who have already suffered so much in the postconciliar epoch.

traditionalguy said...
"Why knee jerk attack good lawyers? Did the lawyers who fought and won the case molest so many altar boys?"

No, but they and groups like SNAP have at least dug up or in some cases fabricated decades-old cases and pursued them to advance their own agendas, whether financial or ideological. (SNAP, for example, isn't corrupt, per se, it's just weaponizing the abuse scandal to advance an independent and preexisting agenda for ecclesiastical reform.) When the scandal first broke, that was one thing; but any case filed after, oh, I guess about 2006, you have to be skeptical, and ever more so as time goes on. There are no (perhaps I should say virtually no) new incidents; just old incidents being pressed into new filings. So I think that's why you see such contempt for the people bringing these suits, it's a sense that they have nothing to do with "justice" in any meaningful sense.; 3/11/15, 10:08 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Choose death.; 3/11/15, 10:14 AM
readering said...: The case was not won by the child abuse victims. The plaintiff is a committee representing all the creditors of the diocese who were left unpaid and without recourse to some specific asset when the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection. Admittedly, the child abuse victims are the largest group of those creditors. If the creditors committee hired lawyers on contingency it was because the diocese was going to such lengths to try to keep its money from its legitimate creditors that the committee considered it unwise to bear the financial risk of not succeeding. And remember the basis of the lawsuit is fraud. The diocese started with the money in its coffers and fraudulently transferred its money to a separate religious entity in order to keep the money away from all its unsecured creditors.

The risk for the creditors is not over. The case may go to the
Supreme Court because there are other courts that say if you fraudulently give your money away to a religion your rightful creditors cannot touch it.; 3/11/15, 11:30 AM
readering said...: If the plaintiff ultimately succeeds the money does not go directly to any creditor represented by the committee plaintiff. It goes back to the diocese, which then pays the costs of the bankruptcy administrationand then its debts, all as approved by the court. If there is any money left over, the diocese keeps the rest.; 3/11/15, 11:43 AM
Deep State Reformer said...: Use volunteer labor to maintain the graves then. Kids who took it up the ass from priests have a higher claim on that money than some boxes of bones do. What a lame argument. Spending one penny on the dead when there's living people (esp. in this case where the Church itself is responsible) to pay restitution to doesn't seem right. How much the lawyers get should be looked into tho too.; 3/11/15, 12:02 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/11/15, 12:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: Good professional Lawyers are hired on a contingent fee because the victims have no multi-million dollar Church to pay for their lawyers. After wrestling with the careful cover ups and all out professional slime jobs of the Holy Fathers, who assert to have all authority on earth, until a good lawyer finally drags their hypocritical asses into a courtroom succeeds, the lawyers end up working for nothing, while the Church's lawyere are paid many millions of dollars, win or lose.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.; 3/11/15, 12:05 PM
Trashhauler said...: These questions probably fall into the impermissible category, but here goes:

1. How many victim plaintiffs are gay men who have discovered a way to get rich by accusing a former gay lover?

2. How much of the glee over massive settlements driven by anti-Catholic bigotry?

3. Why do people continue to use the word "pedophile" to describe these accused priests, when the correct description is gay? Most of the victims were far past puberty and almost all were boys.; 3/11/15, 12:51 PM
traditionalguy said...: I agree with Trashauler...The reason the gay Catholic Priests are being attacked over a mere cruising of fresh boy chickens to satisfy the priests lust actually was a false advertising claim.

The Plaintiffs claim that it was mis-Branding that Church Clerics represented Jesus, and that lie was then carefully perpetuated at all costs, all the way to the top.

The parents did not pay tithes for their families entrusted to Jesus to receive that kind of treatment.; 3/11/15, 1:39 PM
Trashhauler said...: "The parents did not pay tithes for their families entrusted to Jesus to receive that kind of treatment."

Most Catholics don't tithe, but the point remains true. I'm in strong agreement that even gay septuagenarian abusers of authority ought to be held accountable. Still, for this former altar boy the memes get a little confusing:

1. One's gayness is inherent and nothing to be ashamed of. Certainly the complaints of gay men against their former priests is not that the encounters "made" them gay.

2. Early acceptance of a teen's gay nature is understood to be a positive now, together with the idea of accepting their embrace of the lifestyle. This includes their being mentored by older gays.

3. In the case of complaining gay men, the operative assumption is that these (at the time) young priests forced these gay teens to adopt their own gay lifestyle prematurely. Therefore, still reprehensible.

4. Collective punishment should depend on the existence of collective guilt. The punishment for most of these actions falls largely upon the millions of innocent laity.; 3/11/15, 2:42 PM
Trashhauler said...: "...mere cruising of fresh boy chickens to satisfy the priests lust..."

Of course, I am expected to remain quiet and uncomplaining about the many older men in the San Francisco area who dated my teen stepson in the 80s, passed him around like a party favor, and left him HIV positive. Unlike these priests, I'm sure they used nothing but the most gentle of mentoring techniques.; 3/11/15, 3:00 PM
mccullough said...: Trashhauler,

I think the term you're looking for is pederast. When an adult at least 5 years older than a pubescent boy or girl has sexual relations with him or her.

Many times, the adult is much, much older than the teen.

What aggravates the crime in these cases is when the adult is a priest, minister, rabbi, teacher, coach, or family friend. The adult abuses his or her position of trust.

So while a 40 year old who surfs the internet to have sex with a 15 year old is morally repugnant, an adult with a closer relationship with the teen is even more morally wrong.

The adults who abused your stepson are evil.; 3/11/15, 4:31 PM
Trashhauler said...: "I think the term you're looking for is pederast."

I try not to use pejoratives in most things. Too conventional, I expect.; 3/11/15, 4:58 PM
Terrence Berres said...: "that means that $55 million has become available to pay claims brought by victims of sexual abuse against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee."

That does not appear to have been decided in the underlying Bankruptcy Court Decision.

"the other Counts of the Complaint and the Committee's Counterclaim remain to be decided."
...
"1. Count I is a claim that the Trust assets are not property of the bankruptcy estate based on various theories of trust law. Count II is a claim that since the Trust res was never commingled, the res was not property of the estate; Count IV alleges that since the funds were not commingled at the time of the bankruptcy petition, the trust funds are not property of the estate; and Count V alleges that since the Archbishop can trace the funds in the Trust, the funds are not property of the estate."; 3/15/15, 5:43 PM