Notes to the 2004-2005 financial statements, audited by Virchow Krause & Company, and available on the archdiocesan Web site (archmil.org) explain that “The archdiocese served as fiduciary to a fund known as the Parish Deposit Fund. Participation in the fund was elective and its purpose was to provide Catholic entities within the geography of the Archdiocese with economies of scale and administrative ease in the handling of their respective investments and excess funds.”
It further explained that the fund paid interest to its owners/depositors at a rate of 2.25 to 2 percent based on market conditions and no fees were charged by the archdiocese for its fiduciary services. It also notes that the fund was closed in 2005.
Terming “these silly charges” baloney, Archbishop Dolan wrote, “unfortunately this man got the attention he wanted and has come to expect from the news, tarnishing the good name of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and of me. Some of our priests reported that people at Sunday Mass asked them, ‘Why did Archbishop Dolan hide those funds?’
“Lord knows I’ve made mistakes, but ‘hiding’ $130 million is hardly one of them,” he wrote.
