Posted on 08/04/2015 1:23:26 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it will pay $21 million to compensate victims of childhood sexual abuse under a settlement agreement announced Tuesday — a deal that clears the way to ending its nearly 5-year-old bankruptcy.
Of the 575 men and women who filed sex abuse claims in the bankruptcy, 330 would receive financial settlements of varying amounts, to be determined by an administrator appointed by the bankruptcy court. Federal law requires the settlement to be approved by a bankruptcy judge.
It's also not known how many additional millions of dollars will go to pay fees of numerous attorneys and other professionals hired by the archdiocese and its creditors committee over the course of the case.
A $500,000 fund will be created to help abuse survivors obtain counseling and any other therapy they might need. Parishes will contribute to that fund.
Tuesday's settlement paves the way to conclude what has become the longest-running and most contentious of the 14 U.S. Catholic Church bankruptcies filed since 2004 to address sexual abuse liabilities dating back decades.
The "scorched-earth battle," as one court official described it, has exacted a financial and spiritual toll on Catholics across the 10-county archdiocese. And it has demoralized and infuriated abuse survivors, many of whom say they felt further victimized by the process.
"Today, we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love," Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Milwaukee Archdiocese settles sexual abuse lawsuit.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
575??? What’d they do, boink every boy in the Diocese???
I think the lawsuit dates back nearly 100 years.
That will take a lot of second collections to pay off...
FTA: “The archdiocese does not dispute the abuse allegations, church lawyers have stressed repeatedly in court. But it has argued from the beginning that it had no legal liability because the cases were beyond the statutes of limitations; involved teachers, religious order priests or others it did not consider its direct employees; came from victims who had already received settlements; or involved victims who could not prove the church knew about the abuser before the assault occurred.”
Keep filling the collection plates - there’s probably more settlements on the way.
AT LEAST let us learn from their mistakes.
Rule One: NO POOFTERS!
They paid for the joy of buggery on a boy.
Weakland will have hell to pay.
The fish rots from the head.
No. Just a steady amount of them across a period of decades.
I attribute the survival of Christianity to the Church, but it’s failed to adequately adjudicate the “indiscretions” it feared.
I’m reminded of a story that popped up a few years ago where the father of adolescent executed his pleading son for the crime of molestation — a harrowing situation. Perhaps a step too far, but the father didn’t displace the problem.
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