Cardinal Timothy Dolan

A Feb. 20 deposition was a “long-awaited opportunity” for New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to discuss decisions he made on clergy sex abuse cases as Milwaukee’s archbishop, his spokesman said.

Joseph Zwilling said the three-hour closed session, first reported by The New York Times, gave the cardinal a chance “to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors” as head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

Dolan headed the archdiocese from 2002 to 2009, when he was appointed to New York.

The cardinal “has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could, and he was looking forward to talking about the good work and progress that took place to ensure the protection of children and pastoral outreach to victims,” Zwilling added.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese in 2006 reached an out-of-court, $16.9-million settlement with victims of clerical sexual abuse.

The archdiocese in 2011 filed for bankruptcy protection because of unresolved abuse claims.