Writing in his blog on Feb. 14, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan denied sexual abuse victims’ attorney Jeffrey Anderson’s claim that the former Milwaukee Archbishop moved $130 million off the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s record.

Dolan called the claim about hiding money “ridiculous” and “groundless gossip.”

“In my seven years there, the meager resources of the archdiocese were under the vigilance of a sound and respected finance council,” Dolan wrote. “To claim that, given this rigorous supervision, an archbishop could have hidden $130 million, is beyond ridiculous.”

Anderson accused Dolan of moving $130 million off the church’s records, where $75 million disappeared from their investments and another $55 million randomly appeared in a cemetery fund, according to the New York Times.

Of the $130 million, about $75 million belonged to the parishes and was placed in a Parish Deposit Fund, according to the archdiocese’s 2004 financial statement by Virchow Krause & Company, an accounting and advisory firm that specializes in audit, tax and management consulting.

Dolan defended where that money came from.

“This was not archdiocesan money, but belonged to the parishes,” Dolan wrote. “That’s why the finance council, and our outside professional auditors, advised me that it was inappropriate for the archdiocese to hold money for parishes, and that it should be returned to the parishes to which it belonged anyway.”

Dolan also said the cemetery funds “cannot be touched or transferred by anybody.”

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a civil rights organization, expressed his dissatisfaction with Anderson in a statement released on Feb. 14.

“Jeffrey Anderson is angry there isn’t more money in the Milwaukee Archdiocese for him to milk,” he said.

William Thorn, an associate professor in the College of Communication, said this is all a part of the discovery process in a legal case.

He said a discovery process is adversarial in a court case in that both sides are arguing for their position.

“Anderson is trying to get as much money as possible,” Thorn said.

Thorn said Anderson’s immediate assertion is that this was done illegally to reduce the amount of money to victims, while Dolan’s reaction was they put it there because that was where it belonged.

It is in the best interest of the attorney to be as forceful as possible and make the strongest case possible, and same for the other side, Thorn said.

“If (Anderson’s) assertion has any credit, it will increase the amount of money in the pot,” he said.

Thorn said Anderson will go after any money he can, but “especially if it was moved in the last 8 to 10 years” in anticipation of a court suit. Dolan moved it to get a clear picture of the Archdiocesan finances.

It will not have a very large bearing on the case, Thorn said.

Kate Monaghan, the assistant communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, said in an e-mail that the attempt to shield money is not true and “Archbishop Dolan would welcome the opportunity to cooperate with any law enforcement people who are investigating the matter.”