Michael J. Bransfield

After Bransfield retired 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 him.

[1] The report found that the accusations of sexual harassment were credible[2] and detailed Bransfield's diversion of diocesan funds to support a lavish lifestyle.

[5] Church leaders—some of whom had previously received gifts from Bransfield—were criticized for failing to respond to initial complaints concerning Bransfield and for later weakening restitution requirements.

[14] Bransfield was a member of the boards of trustees of the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Accusations against Bransfield had been 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.

His resignation was immediately accepted by Pope Francis, who named Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore as apostolic administrator of the diocese.

[1][21][18] The investigation was prompted by an August 2018 letter to Lori from Monsignor Kevin Quirk, a canon lawyer and top aide to Bransfield.

In the letter, Quirk alleged that Bransfield had engaged in drug and alcohol abuse, sexual harassment, and financial impropriety.

The report 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 Lori report was not submitted to law enforcement.

[3]As summarized in the Washington Post, the Lori 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 did not name the complainants;[3] Lori said that information was withheld "due to privacy concerns and at the request of those who alleged harassment by Bishop Bransfield.

[3] The Lori investigation 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][a] 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.

[33] In July 2019, Pope Francis banned Bransfield from living in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and forbade him from presiding over or participating "in any public celebration of the Liturgy.

[42] The complaint 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.

[42] 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.

[45] 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.