Michael J. Bransfield

Michael Joseph Bransfield (born September 8, 1943) is a disgraced former American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia from 2005 to 2018. Bransfield was previously rector of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 2004.

The Most Reverend Michael Joseph Bransfield
Bishop Emeritus of Wheeling-Charleston
Archdiocese	Baltimore
Diocese	Wheeling-Charleston
Appointed	December 9, 2004
Term ended	September 13, 2018
Predecessor	Bernard William Schmitt
Successor	Mark E. Brennan
Orders
Ordination	May 15, 1971 by John Krol
Consecration	February 22, 2005 by William Henry Keeler
Personal details
Born	(1943-09-08) September 8, 1943 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Motto	THY WILL BE DONE

Styles of Michael Joseph Bransfield
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

After Bransfield retired as diocesan bishop in 2018, a church investigation led by Archbishop William E. Lori and five lay experts examined "multiple allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties" leveled against Bransfield.[1] The report found that the accusations of sexual harassment were credible[2] and detailed extravagant spending by Bransfield.[3] In July 2019, Pope Francis banned Bransfield from residing in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and ordered that he was not to “preside or to participate anywhere in any public celebration of the Liturgy,"[4] thus barring him from engaging in public ministry within the Catholic Church.[5]

Early life, education, and ordination

Bransfield was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Catholic schools in Philadelphia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a master's degree in divinity from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood.[6] Bransfield was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal John Krol on May 15, 1971.[6]

Career as a priest

Bransfield received a master's in philosophy from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. He was later a teacher and chaplain at Lansdale Catholic High School, and chair of its religion department.[7] In 1987, Pope John Paul II named Bransfield as an honorary prelate.[6]

Bransfield was named assistant director and director of liturgy (1980), director of finance (1982), and director (1986) at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.[8][9] When the Shrine was named a Basilica in 1990, Bransfield was appointed its first rector and served in this position until 2004.[10][8][11][9]

Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston

On December 9, 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed Bransfield the Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia.[12] He received episcopal consecration on February 22, 2005, from Cardinal William Henry Keeler, with Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick and Bishop Bernard William Schmitt as co-consecrators, at St. Joseph's Cathedral.

As a bishop, Bransfield was elected president of The Papal Foundation, a Catholic nonprofit organization that distributes funds to charitable organization.[3] Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he served a term as treasurer,[13][14] and as a member of the Conference's Communications Committee and the National Collections Committee;[7] he also co-authored a set of diocesan financial guidelines approved by the Conference in 2002.[13]

Bransfield was a member of the boards of trustees of the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.[14] He holds membership in the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.

Accusations of sexual abuse and harassment

On April 2012, the Associated Press reported that Bransfield had been accused of sexual abuse of a boy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Accusations against Bransfield, who had been ordained a priest in the archdiocese, were raised in testimony by a witness at the trial of two Philadelphia priests, one charged with attempted rape and the other with failing to report sexual abuse. Bransfield was not charged with a crime, and denied ever sexually abusing anyone.[15][16]

Resignation

When he turned 75 in September 2018, Bransfield submitted his resignation as required by canon law. His resignation was immediately accepted by Pope Francis, who named Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore as apostolic administrator of the diocese,[17][18][19] and directed Lori to conduct an investigation into allegations that Bransfield sexually harassed adults.[1][20][18]

Investigations and aftermath

The investigation into Bransfield was prompted by a detailed whistleblowing letter that Monsignor Kevin Quirk—a canon lawyer and top aide to Bransfield—wrote to Lori in August 2018. Quirk's letter alleged that Bransfield had engaged in drug and alcohol abuse, sexual harassment, and financial impropriety.[21]

At the time of Bransfield's resignation, he was described as an associate of former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who had resigned from the College of Cardinals several months earlier over accusations that he had abused children and seminarians, allegations which McCarrick denied.[22]

Findings of investigation into Bransfield's conduct

A 60-page report by five lay investigators overseen by Lori was submitted to the Vatican in 2019.[3] A copy of the final report was obtained by the Washington Post, which reported on the findings in June 2020,[3] and published the full report in December 2019.[23][24] Lori released a letter to the priests and laity of the diocese on the same day the June 2020 Post article summarizing the conclusions of the investigation was published.[2]

Findings related to sexual harassment

The investigative team commissioned by the church determined that the allegations that Bransfield had sexually harassed adults were "credible" and stated: "The team uncovered a consistent pattern of sexual innuendo, and overt suggestive comments and actions toward those over whom the former bishop exercised authority,"[2] specifically seminarians and young priests.[3] According to a diocesan spokesman, the investigation "found that no criminal activity was undertaken", and the report was not submitted to law enforcement.[25] Lori stated that "the investigation found no conclusive evidence of sexual misconduct with minors by the former bishop during its investigation."[2].The Washington Post reported the opposite conclusion, stating that the report reads: “We did not find conclusive evidence that Bishop Bransfield committed sexual misconduct with minors; however, there is significant reason for concern that this occurred,” the report stated, citing “several troubling incidents” involving altar servers.[3]

As summarized in the Washington Post, the report gave the accounts of nine men in the diocese who accused Bransfield "of touching or groping them, kissing or exposing himself to them or of commenting on their bodies."[3] The report stated that the diocese's judicial vicar had attempted to ensure that altar servers were not left alone with Bransfield.[3] The report did not name the men who complained about Bransfield's conduct;[3] Lori stated that the names and underlying details were withheld "due to privacy concerns and at the request of those who alleged harassment by Bishop Bransfield."[2] The report also stated that similar complaints were raised against Bransfield when he was a Catholic high school teacher and rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception from 1990 to 2005; that the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese's vicar for clergy reported that at least six clerical assistants to Bransfield "were broken by" their experiences working under him; and that as bishop, Bransfield abused alcohol and prescription drugs, including oxycodone, and that this "likely contributed to his harassing and abusive behavior."[3] In interview with investigators, Bransfield denied engaging in sexual misconduct.[3]

Findings related to financial impropriety

The 2019 investigation into Bransfield also found that over a ten-year period, Bransfield gave a total of $350,000 in cash gifts to other Catholic clerics, "including young priests he is accused of mistreating and more than a dozen cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican."[3] Bransfield wrote the checks from his personal account, and the diocese reimbursed him for the value of the gifts.[3] The gifts came in the form of at least 565 checks made out to the clerics by name.[3]

The Lori report also found that during his 13-year tenure as bishop, Bransfield spent $2.4 million in diocesan funds on travel, including a substantial amount on personal travel. The report also found that Bransfield, along with a number of subordinates, spent an average of almost $1,000 per month on alcohol; that fresh flowers were delivered daily to the chancery while Bransfield was present, at a total cost of $182,000; and that the diocese "paid $4.6 million to renovate Bransfield's church residence after a fire damaged a single bathroom."[3] Bransfield also used church funds for a personal chef and chauffeur.[21] The report found that the diocese financial board was "extremely passive" and lacked adequate financial controls, with "an almost complete absence of any meaningful review of financial decisions."[3][lower-alpha 1] The investigators concluded that "Bishop Bransfield adopted an extravagant and lavish lifestyle that was in stark contrast to the faithful he served and was for his own personal benefit."[3] Bransfield denies the findings of the report, but provided no details.[3] In a July 2019 interview, Bransfield argued that his financial decisions as bishop were justified and approved by diocesan financial officials.[21]

Early warnings of financial impropriety

Beginning in 2012, multiple parishioners in Bransfield's diocese made complaints to church authorities in the U.S. and Vatican that Bransfield was engaged in financial abuses, but these complaints were not acted upon.[21] Lori; Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, then the papal nuncio (ambassador) to the United States; Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, then the leader of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican; and Archbishop Peter Bryan Wells, an official at the Vatican Secretariat of State, all received these complaints.[21] Viganò, Burke, Wells, and Lori were also among the many recipients of cash gifts from Bransfield during his tenure.[21] Between 2005 and 2018 Bransfield had paid $350,000 to clergy in the U.S. and in the Vatican in what an aide described as an effort to "purchase influence".[27][28][28] In July 2019, after the Washington Post reported on the early warnings, "Wells, Burke and Lori said the gifts did not influence how they responded to parishioners' complaints," while "Viganò said he did not recall receiving complaints and did not give Bransfield favorable treatment" and said that he had donated the funds to charity shortly after the gift was made.[21]

Recommendations of the investigative team

The report of the investigative team "recommended Bransfield be stripped of powers as bishop, removed from ministry and forced to pay restitution" and also recommended that Bransfield's three top aides be removed from office.[2]

Church disciplinary action and aftermath

In March 2019, following the delivery of the investigators' report, Lori removed Bransfield from "any priestly or episcopal ministry either within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston or within the Archdiocese of Baltimore" pending review of the report by the Holy See.[1][29] In June 2019, Bransfield's three former top aides resigned.[30]

In July 2019, Pope Francis imposed restrictions on Bransfield by banning him from living in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and forbidding him from presiding over or participating "in any public celebration of the Liturgy."[4] Though Bransfield was not laicized, these measures permanently excluded him from engaging in any form of public ministry in the Catholic church.[5] Francis also directed Bransfield's eventual successor as bishop to determine how Bransfield should be directed to "make personal amends" for his actions.[31] Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Mark E. Brennan was appointed to succeed Bransfield as Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston in late July 2019,[32] and was installed the next month.[33]

In November 2019, Bishop Brennan ordered Bransfield to pay restitution to the diocese in the amount of $792,638 (and $110,000 to the IRS) and to issue an apology "for the severe emotional and spiritual harm his actions caused" to his victims and to the diocese.[31] Brennan also revoked certain retirement benefits of Bransfield and barred him from being buried in the diocesan cemetery.[31] The directive is believed to be a rare, perhaps unprecedented, example of a bishop being ordered to pay restitution.[31] Brennan indicated in August 2020 that Bransfield had gone incommunicado and failed to apologize or respond to his directive to make restitution to victims and the diocese.[34]

The diocese said it would reimburse the costs of mental health assistance for "known victims" of Bransfield. Lori, as apostolic administrator, also directed the creation of a "third-party reporting system" for allegations against bishops of the diocese.[2]

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called for a law enforcement investigation[2] and criticized the church discipline imposed against Bransfield by Brennan as insufficient because they suggested "that Bransfield alone should make reparations."[31] SNAP called for consequences for Church officials who concealed, or failed to address, Bransfield's conduct.[31]

Civil lawsuits

In March 2019, a former personal altar boy for Bransfield sued the Wheeling-Charleston Catholic Diocese, alleging that Bransfield had sexually harassed him for years and sexually assaulted him in 2014. The suit was settled on confidential terms in August 2019.[35]

Also in March 2019 Attorney General Morrisey filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of the State of West Virginia against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and Bransfield, alleging violations of West Virginia consumer protection laws.[36] The complaint filed by the state specifically alleges that the diocese advertised itself as a safe place for children while "knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks" on workers in Catholic schools and camps.[36] The lawsuit was groundbreaking because it named a diocese as a defendant rather than individual priests, and because it sought to make use of consumer-protection law to obtain discovery of church records.[36]

In September 2019, a second sex-abuse lawsuit was filed in state court in Ohio County, West Virginia against Bransfield by a former seminarian who accused Bransfield of sexual harassment.[37][38]

Criminal investigation

In October 2019, the Washington Post reported that police were investigating an allegation that Bransfield molested a 9-year-old girl during a September 2012 pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, while on a trip led by Bransfield.[39] The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston was subpoenaed for documents in connection with the investigation.[39] Bransfield denied the allegation.[39]

Notes

1. The diocese was organized as a corporation sole, giving Bransfield extremely broad authority to use diocesan funds without effective oversight. Bransfield could, for example, both initiate and approve payments to himself.[26]

References

1. Two bishops removed from ministry over allegations of sexual harassment, Associated Press/Catholic News Service, March 12, 2019
2. Linda Comins, 'Credible' Accounts Accuse Sexual Harassment From Former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, The Intelligencer (June 6, 2019).
3. Michelle Boorstein, Shawn Boburg & Robert O'Harrow Jr, W.Va. bishop gave powerful cardinals and other priests $350,000 in cash gifts before his ouster, church records show, Washington Post, June 5, 2019
4. Pope Francis issues disciplinary measures for Bishop Bransfield. America - The Jesuit Review, July 19, 2019
5. Tal Axelrod, Vatican bans West Virginia bishop from public ministry over sexual misconduct allegations, The Hill (July 19, 2019).
6. "National Shrine Rector Named West Virginia Bishop". Catholic News Agency. December 9, 2004. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
7. Update: Bishop Bransfield retires; pope orders investigation of allegations, Catholic News Service (September 13, 2018).
8. Rutkowski, Ryan (2010). Catholic West Virginia. Arcadia Publishing. p. 20. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
9. "Bishop Michael J. Bransfield". Bishop Accountability. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
10. Lamb, Christopher (September 13, 2018). "Pope orders investigation into US bishop". The Tablet. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
11. "Bishop Bransfield Resigns, Being Investigated". Wheeling News Register. September 13, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
12. "Rinunce e Nomine, 09.12.2004" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. December 9, 2004. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
13. Diocesan Financial Issues, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2002).
14. Rita Ferrone, Why the 'Metropolitan Plan' Does't Work: Exhibit A: Bishop Bransfield, Commonweal (July 11, 2019).
15. "Scandalous charges by Stanley Gana against Bishop Bransfield". Catholic News Service. April 19, 2012. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
16. "Witness priest said West Virginia bishop once abused teen". Associated Press. April 18, 2012.
17. "Rinunce e nomine, 13.09.2018" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. September 13, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
18. Brockhaus, Hannah. "Pope accepts resignation of Bishop Bransfield as inquiry into misconduct claims launched". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
19. Hanna, Jason (September 13, 2018). "Catholic bishop in West Virginia resigns amid sexual harassment investigation". CNN. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
20. "Vatican OKs sexual harassment probe of U.S. Bishop Michael Bransfield". NBC News. September 13, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
21. Robert O'Harrow Jr. & Shawn Boburg, Warnings about West Virginia bishop went unheeded as he doled out cash gifts to Catholic leaders, Washington Post (July 3, 2019).
22. Goodstein, Laurie, Fall of a West Virginia Bishop Widens the Catholic Crisis Over Sex Abuse, New York Times (September 13, 2018).
23. Shawn Boburg, Robert O'Harrow Jr. & Michelle Boorstein, The Bransfield report: Post publishes secret Vatican document as parishioners demand answers, Washington Post (December 23, 2019).
24. Brad McElhinny, Full report detailing Bransfield allegations is published by Washington Post, West Virginia MetroNews (December 24, 2019).
25. Comins, Linda (March 12, 2019). "Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Investigation Finds 'No Criminal Activity' by Former Bishop Michael Bransfield". Wheeling News-Register.
26. Ashley McKinless, Explainer: How could Bishop Bransfield misuse funds for years without raising red flags?, America (June 12, 2019).
27. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/disgraced-former-cardinal-mccarrick-gave-more-than-600000-in-church-funds-to-powerful-clerics-records-show/2019/12/26/ac2b99ba-1c3a-11ea-9ddd-3e0321c180e7_story.html
28. https://catholic-sf.org/news/report-says-mccarrick-fund-gave-more-than-600-000-to-clerics-two-pope
29. Archbishop Lori Restricts Bishops Bransfield, Bennett From Exercising Ministry, Catholic News Agency (March 11, 2019).
30. Robert O'Harrow Jr. & Shawn Boburg, Three priests accused of enabling W.Va. bishop's 'predatory and harassing conduct' resign, Washington Post (June 10, 2019).
31. Michelle Boorstein, West Virginia bishop calls for predecessor, accused of sex and financial misconduct, to pay $792,000 in restitution and to apologize, Washington Post (November 26, 2019).
32. Jonathan M. Pitts, Baltimore auxiliary bishop to bring pastoral ways to a West Virginia diocese troubled by scandal, Baltimore Sun (July 23, 2019).
33. Linda Comins, Brennan installed as new Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, The Inter-Mountain (August 23, 2019).
34. Michelle Boorstein, Disgraced West Virginia bishop Michael Bransfield was told a year ago to make restitution. His successor says Bransfield has gone incommunicado., Washington Post (August 11, 2020).
35. John Raby, Lawsuit accusing ex-West Virginia bishop of drunken sexual assault settled; replacement to be installed today, Associated Press (August 22, 2019).
36. Michelle Boorstein, Sarah Pulliam Bailey & Tom Jackman, West Virginia accuses Catholic diocese and former bishops of sex abuse cover-up in unusual consumer protection lawsuit, March 19, 2019.
37. Joselyn King, Second Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Filed Against Former bishop Michael Bransfield, The Intelligencer (September 30, 2019).
38. Lawsuit accuses retired West Virginia bishop of sexually harassing seminarian, Associated Press (October 2, 2019).
39. Shawn Boburg & Robert O'Harrow Jr., Former W.Va. bishop Michael Bransfield is under police investigation for alleged abuse of 9-year-old girl on church trip, Washington Post (October 3, 2019).

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bernard William Schmitt	Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston 2004–2018	Succeeded by Mark E. Brennan
Preceded by none	Rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception 1990–2004	Succeeded by Walter R. Rossi