(CBS/AP) MILWAUKEE - The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has confirmed it paid suspected pedophile priests to leave the ministry.
The acknowledgement comes after a document surfaced in the archdiocese's bankruptcy case discussing a 2003 proposal to pay $20,000 to "unassignable priests" who accept a return to the laity. The policy was crafted under then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who now leads the New York archdiocese.
A spokesman for the archdiocese told The New York Times, meanwhile, that the payments were made to "a handful" of priests "as a motivation" not to contest their removal from their positions.
"It was a way to provide an incentive to go the voluntary route and make it happen quickly, and ultimately cost less," spokesman Jerry Topczewski, told the Times. "Their cooperation made the process a lot more expeditious."
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The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests characterizes the payments as payoffs to priests who molested children. The group told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it's calling on the archdiocese to release all records involving the payments.
An archdiocese spokeswoman disputes that characterization. She told The Associated Press late Wednesday that the money was meant to quickly remove the men from the priesthood and help them transition into lay life.
The Catholic Church is currently fending off a number of scandals. In addition to the ongoing sexual abuse investigations, Pope Benedict XVI's private communications have been leaked to the press by at least one mole from within his closest circle of aides.
And CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports the Pontiff is also feeling a backlash from American Catholics over his crackdown on America's 57,000 nuns.
A letter from the Vatican warned them that a group representing most of the nuns in the U.S. is straying from church teachings on abortion and homosexuality. As Andrews reports, the nuns are going about their work, in spite of the backlash.
