Article Title
Three priests accused of enabling W.Va. bishop’s ‘predatory and harassing conduct’ resign
Link to Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/three-priests-accused-of-enabling-wva-bishops-predatory-and-harassing-conduct-resign/2019/06/10/507fbf30-8bc9-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html?utm_term=.32bd278d85ee&wpisrc=al_news__alert-national&wpmk=1
Source: Washington Post
Author(s): Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boberg
Date: June 10, 2019
Synopsis of / Excerpts from Article
According to the article:
Three high-ranking priests who allegedly enabled “predatory and harassing conduct” by Bishop Michael J. Bransfield when he was leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia have resigned from their leadership posts, church officials announced Monday.
A statement from Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore gave no reason for the resignations. But the three monsignors — Frederick Annie, Anthony Cincinnati and Kevin Quirk — are central figures in a scandal over alleged sexual and financial misconduct by Bransfield, according to a confidential report described in a Washington Post story last week.
The report by five lay Catholics was completed in February and submitted to the Vatican. Lori’s statement said Annie resigned in September, around the time the Vatican launched its investigation. Quirk and Cincinnati resigned on Monday, Lori said.
The report alleges that Bransfield spent $2.4 million in church money on travel, including chartered jets, and that he and his aides spent nearly $1,000 a month on alcohol, among many other personal luxuries.
Citing church financial documents, The Post reported that Bransfield also gave cash gifts totaling $350,000 to fellow clergymen over his 13 years at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, including young priests he is accused of mistreating and more than a dozen cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican. The church reimbursed him by boosting his compensation, the records show.