Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
W.Va. Bishop Gave Powerful Cardinals and Other Priests $350,000 in Cash Gifts Before his Ouster, Church Records Show
posted on June 6, 2019The Washington Post‘s Michelle Boorstein, Shawn Boburg, and Robert O’Harrow Jr. report that Michael J. Bransfield, the former leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia, gave $350,000 from church coffers to fellow clergy before he resigned last September over allegations of sexual misconduct. They write, “Bishop Michael J. Bransfield wrote the checks from his personal account over more than a decade, and the West Virginia diocese reimbursed him by boosting his compensation to cover the value of the gifts, the records show. As a tax-exempt nonprofit, the diocese must use its money only for charitable purposes.” The Archbishop of Baltimore William Lori oversaw an investigation into the situation, but he also received money from Bransfield. He had his name and those of other clerics edited out of a confidential report obtained by the Post.