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Davenport Diocese Looks at Restoring Money Paid out in Abuse Cases By Erin Jordan Des Moines Register August 14, 2008 http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/NEWS/80814018/-1/ENT06 The Catholic Diocese of Davenport will launch a study to see if there is support for a major fundraising drive to help the diocese recover from bankruptcy after a clergy abuse scandal, officials announced. The diocese, which includes 83 parishes in the southeastern quarter of Iowa, has also hired a development director to lead fundraising efforts. "After the first of the year when we began to realize we'd be coming out of bankruptcy, we saw a need for us to get back on our feet," Msgr. John Hyland said in a prepared statement Thursday. "The only way that could take place was to begin the process of a campaign to raise money for the needs of the diocese." The diocese has hired Sister Laura Goedken, of Iowa City, to be the diocese's first development director. Goedken, who will start work Oct. 1, has been the director of evangelization and stewardship for the Iowa City Catholic parishes since 2004. Goedken is a Monticello native. The diocese named Community Counseling Services, a New York fundraising consulting firm, to do a feasibility study to see if there is support for a major fund drive, the diocese announced. The firm has led the capital campaign for the Catholic Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., which also filed for bankruptcy after a priest abuse scandal. A federal bankruptcy judge in May approved a plan for the diocese to give $37 million to victims of sexual abuse by priests and other diocese employees. The church filed for bankruptcy in October 2006. |
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