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	Parish, School Help Sought for Abuse Pay By Shirley Ragsdale Des Moines Register December 4, 2007 http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS/712040389/1001 Catholic parishes and schools in the Davenport Diocese will be asked to pay part of the $37 million bankruptcy settlement to victims of sexual abuse by clergy that was announced Monday. In return, the congregations and schools will be cleared of all liability for cases of child sexual abuse by priests that occurred before the diocese filed bankruptcy Oct. 10, 2006. "In the beginning, the Diocese of Davenport alone entered bankruptcy," Bishop Martin Amos, who heads the diocese, said in a news release. "But we were able to include all other Catholic entities in the diocese (in the agreement) so that they all will be protected from future claims." The agreement dwarfs a $9 million settlement reached in 2004 between the diocese and abuse survivors. Before filing for bankruptcy, the diocese had paid out $10 million to 43 people who claimed they were abused by priests. Davenport is among five U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy, pressured by monetary claims and lawsuits from people who said they had been abused by clergy. When it filed bankruptcy papers, the diocese cited a $1.5 million jury award in a clergy abuse lawsuit filed by D. Michl Uhde and possible future claims as the cause. The bankruptcy postponed 14 lawsuits naming the diocese and retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens, who was accused of abusing Regina Catholic High School students when he was a priest serving as principal there. The agreement announced Monday will remove the diocese from the lawsuits but does not protect Soens, according to Craig Levien, attorney for men who allege that Soens sexually abused them. "The bankruptcy agreement does not eliminate the personal liability of Bishop Soens," Levien said. "Trials are not presently scheduled, but it is a possibility. Many more people have filed claims against Soens as a result of the bankruptcy, and those people may choose to also make claims." David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he believes it is significant that Soens "might yet be forced into a courtroom." "While many abusive priests, nuns, brothers and seminarians have been brought to justice, Soens and about a dozen other accused bishops have escaped any degree of accountability," Clohessy said. Attorneys representing abuse victims have disagreed with the diocese's contention that each of the parishes and schools was independent through incorporation. But as a result of this agreement - if the plan is approved - all Catholic entities in the diocese will be released from liability for past cases of abuse, averting further legal wrangling and preserving the pool of money available to pay the abuse survivors, according to Levien. The diocese claimed to have nearly $6 million in assets at the time it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in October 2006. It sold its limited property holdings - a farm, a residence and the bishop's duplex - for about $560,000. The diocese has also agreed to let the creditors committee sell the St. Vincent Center, the diocese's headquarters in Davenport. The liquidation - along with investments held by the diocese, contributions from diocesan parishes and schools and insurance company settlements - will pay for the balance of the settlement. Contributions by some of the parishes and schools have yet to be approved by their boards, according to David Montgomery, spokesman for the diocese. "No amount of money is adequate to compensate the victims," said Uhde, chairman of the creditors committee. "We had to deal with real- world issues and finances. We chose not to drag this on for years. All the attorneys were on board at this point and agreed that this is probably the best we were going to do." Gifts donated to the diocese for specific purposes and the annual diocesan appeal, which pays for ongoing operation of the diocese, are excluded from the settlement, according to the diocese's news release. The agreement was reached at 1 a.m. Thursday after four days of mediation in Chicago. The diocese and other parties involved in the negotiation delayed announcing the settlement until after the bankruptcy court could be notified and to assure the judge would not "read about the agreement in the newspapers," Levien said. In addition to the money payment to the 156 abuse victims, their attorneys and bankruptcy attorneys, the bishop agreed to a number of nonmonetary requests by the abuse survivors, including visits by the bishop to the parishes where the abuse occurred and the publishing of the names of abusers. The diocese also will give abuse survivors an opportunity to address the parish in which the abuse occurred, and their stories will be published in the diocese's newspaper, the Catholic Messenger. Mental health treatment will be offered to all current and future survivors. Further details of the settlement will be made public when the diocese files its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan in the next few weeks, attorneys said. The plan must be approved by Lee M. Jackwig, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Religion Editor Shirley Ragsdale can be reached at (515) 284-8208 or sragsdale@dmreg.com
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