Bishop Michael Bransfield, in the years before he was ousted as leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia, gave cash gifts totaling $350,000 to fellow clergymen, including priests he is accused of mistreating, The Washington Post is reporting.
The money also went to cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican. The Post attributed the information to church records it obtained.
Bransfield wrote checks from his personal account over more than a decade, the newspaper said. The West Virginia diocese reimbursed him by increasing his compensation to cover the expenses, the Post reported.
The cash gifts were noted in a draft of a report to the Vatican about alleged misconduct that led to Bransfield’s resignation in September, the newspaper said.
The Vatican launched an investigation last fall after concerns were raised about Bransfield’s behavior. Investigators found the cash gifts were part of a larger pattern of abuse of power by Bransfield, including harassing young priests and spending money on personal indulgences, the newspaper said.
The investigators’ report noted Bransfield “emphatically denied engaging in any sexual harassment or sexual activity with any priest or seminarian.
But younger male clerical assistants had complained that Bransfield was sexually harassing them
The report also said seminarians or young priests were instructed to “make your boundaries clear,” or told that they had no choice but to join Bransfield in such activities as sleepovers at his residence, the Post said.
Bransfield abused alcohol, oxycodone and other prescription drugs, which “likely contributed to his harassing and abusive behavior,” according to the report obtained by the newspaper.
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