{"id":302091,"date":"2019-09-12T19:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=302091"},"modified":"2019-09-12T19:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:44:00","slug":"the-bransfield-file-this-is-so-much-worse-than-we-imagined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/09\/the-bransfield-file-this-is-so-much-worse-than-we-imagined\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bransfield File: ‘This is so much worse than we imagined’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/em>From The Washington Post:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to \u201cpray, sing and worship\u201d at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. Catholics from remote areas of one of the nation\u2019s poorest states paid up to $190 for seats on overnight buses and hotel rooms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Unknown to the worshipers, Bransfield traveled another way. He hired a private jet and, after a 33-minute flight, took a limousine from the airport. The church picked up his $6,769 travel bill.<\/p>\n

That trip in September 2017 was emblematic of the secret history of Bransfield\u2019s lavish travel. He spent millions of dollars from his diocese on trips in the United States and abroad, records show, while many of his parishioners struggled to find work, feed their families and educate their children.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>Pope Francis has said bishops should live modestly. During his 13 years as the leader of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston,\u00a0Bransfield took\u00a0nearly 150 trips on\u00a0private jets and some 200 limousine rides, a Washington Post investigation found. He stayed at exclusive hotels in Washington, Rome, Paris, London and the Caribbean.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u2018It is profoundly, morally wrong.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

Last year, Bransfield stayed a week in the penthouse of a legendary Palm Beach, Fla., hotel, at a cost of $9,336. He hired a chauffeur to drive him around Washington for a day at a cost of\u00a0$1,383. And he spent $12,386 for a jet to fly him from\u00a0the Jersey Shore to a meeting with the pope\u2019s ambassador in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

<\/b>To gain a deeper understanding of Bransfield\u2019s travel expenditures, The Post reconstructed his movements in the year before he retired in September 2018. The reporting drew on receipts obtained by The Post, public flight records and the confidential findings of the church\u2019s own investigation as well as interviews with some of Bransfield\u2019s companions and travel company representatives\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026\u201cThis is so much worse than we ever imagined,\u201d Michael Iafrate, a church activist in West Virginia, said when told about The Post\u2019s reporting. \u201cIt is profoundly, morally wrong.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on<\/a>,<\/strong> if you can stomach it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0From The Washington Post:\u00a0 It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to \u201cpray, sing and worship\u201d at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. Catholics from remote areas of one of the nation\u2019s poorest states paid up to $190 for seats on overnight buses and hotel rooms. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":296638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,45],"tags":[1096,888],"class_list":["post-302091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bishops","category-ripped-from-the-headlines","tag-bishop-bransfield","tag-west-virginia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bransfield File: 'This is so much worse than we imagined'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0From The Washington Post:\u00a0 It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. 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