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WHEELING -- Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston officials are dissolving former bishop Michael Bransfield's controversial Bishops Fund that he used to direct nearly $17 million to numerous projects in West Virginia.
Church officials said Thursday the board voted last July to close the nonprofit and will eventually figure out what to do with the estimated $5 million that remains in the account.
The dissolution paperwork was filed with West Virginia after that vote, and the board is now waiting for state government agencies to finalize its closure, said Diocesan Administrative Services Director Bryan Minor, who sits on the board.
"When funds come in, we'll decide with the (diocese's) College of Consultors," Minor said.
The fund held $4.7 million in its account at the end of 2018, according to IRS filings. Minor said he did not know how much money is currently in the fund, although he expected it to be slightly higher due to investment returns over the past year.
Bransfield started the non profit in 2014 and served as the organization's executive director and board president until he retired amid controversy in late 2018 and was later removed from office. Over its five years, the non profit distributed $16.977 million to various projects around the state, the majority of which went to the former Wheeling Jesuit University to keep it afloat.
Bransfield led the Bishops Fund Inc. board during that time with Minor, the Rev. Kevin Quirk, the Rev. Frederick Annie and Central Catholic High School President Lawrence Bandi. Quirk and Annie, both church lieutenants for Bransfield, were reassigned to other posts after he retired in September 2018 amid accusations against him of sexual harassment and financial mismanagement. Only Minor and Bandi remained on the board at the end of 2018, according to the most recent IRS records filed by the organization.
Minor said the Most Rev. William Lori, the Archbishop of Baltimore who oversaw the diocese after Bransfield's departure, led the Bishops Fund board with him and Bandi when they voted unanimously to dissolve last July. It was not know if the Most Rev. Mark Brennan, who was appointed bishop on July 23, played a role in the decision to close the fund. Lori left the board after Brennan was installed at bishop the following month.
Minor, Bandi and Brennan are now the only remaining members on the board.
"The board will have to meet before any final distribution is made," Minor said.
In 2018, the last year in which Bransfield was in charge of the fund, the nonprofit gave $646,452 to five entities, according to IRS filings. The diocese itself received the most with $505,000, followed by $80,000 to St. Joseph the Worker School in Weirton; $30,000 to Catholic Charities of West Virginia; $29,412 to Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Charleston; and $2,040 to Charleston Catholic High School.
The account drew scrutiny last year when it was revealed that the vast majority of its revenue - more than $21 million - was funneled from Wheeling Hospital into the Bishops Fund.
Wheeling Jesuit University received nearly $13 million, while Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Charleston received $2.26 million for a multi-million dollar renovation of its sanctuary in 2017 that included a new marble altar at Bransfield's urging.
Without naming Bransfield or the Bishops Fund specifically, Brennan criticized the decision to purchase a new altar for the Charleston church that parishioners apparently did not want.
"I'm here to show stewardship of the resources from the people," Brennan said Thursday about the diocese's current financial picture. "My concern is to leave a legacy for West Virginia Catholics and not spend it all for ourselves now."