Condoms are baaad, Paying Off Pedophiles? Not so much

From the New York Times:

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive priests as an incentive for them to agree to dismissal from the priesthood when he was the archbishop of Milwaukee.

Questioned at the time about the news that one particularly notorious pedophile cleric had been given a “payoff” to leave the priesthood, Cardinal Dolan, then the archbishop, responded that such an inference was “false, preposterous and unjust.”

The Times doesn't give any more information on that notorious pedophile cleric.  I will.  Here's what was reported in 2006:

Milwaukee -- A local advocate group for the survivors of sexual abuse from clergy members is questioning a $10,000 payment to a former clergyman accused of sexually abusing young boys.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released a videotaped deposition Thursday as part of an $18 million settlement last week between nine abuse victims and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The videotape includes a confession by former clergyman Franklyn Becker. Becker said he was transferred from parish to parish in the 1970s and '80s, despite allegations of sexual encounters with teenage boys. He said he was even posted at parishes with others who shared his desires.

"I was stationed with a classmate of mine who also had a predilection for teenage boys," Becker said on the tape, which was recorded last month.

And then:

After the arrival of Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Becker was removed from active ministry in 2002. He was completely removed from the priesthood in 2004 by Pope John Paul II.

Upon his release from the archdiocese, Becker was given $10,000 to cover expenses until his Medicaid supplements began.

Victims' advocates are questioning the money.

"I don't think people donating to the archdiocese are going to be very happy to hear that this man was given any money. For what? He is rewarded. Is it a pension? Is he given a severance? Is this a bonus?" abuse victims' advocate Peter Isely said.

Late Thursday, Dolan released a statement in response, writing, "For anyone to assert that this money was a payoff or occurred in exchange for Becker agreeing to leave the priesthood is completely false, preposterous, and unjust. What this was, instead, was an act of charity, in-line with Catholic Social Teaching, that allowed a person to obtain health insurance coverage he simply could not afford on his own. If people want to criticize me for that charity, so be it."

No. Not a pay off. Of course not.  An act of charity for a known pedophile.  This act of charity was about 10 years ago.

Twenty-two years ago Becker apologized to his Archbishop for being involved with a teenage boy.  Luckily for Becker, the boy's mother was "sympathetic" and didn't press charges.

That Archbishop?  Look what happened to him:

Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee was one of the Catholic Church's most venerable voices for change until 2002 when he resigned amid revelations that he had used church money to pay a $450,000 settlement to a man with whom he had had a relationship years earlier.

His successor? Timothy Dolan.

The same guy who's so much against contraception that he'd allow the poor to starve.

But there's tens of thousands of dollars for known pedophiles.

I'll ask it again: Given the atrocious behavior of the Catholic Church regarding it's own misbehaving priests, why should we even consider any statement of sexual morality coming from any spokesperson for that church with any sort of credibility?