By Erin Toner
Milwaukee Public Radio
January 5, 2011
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=7515
[with audio]
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| Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki |
The Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese announced Tuesday it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Officials say pending sexual abuse lawsuits have left the archdiocese with legal claims that exceed its means. As WUWM's Erin Toner reports, church leaders say the filing lays the groundwork for a new beginning.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said after careful consideration, planning and prayer, the archdiocese decided to take the drastic step of filing for Chapter 11. The announcement came on the one-year anniversary of Listecki's installation as the head of Milwaukee's Catholic Church.
"In my installation homily on January 4, 2010, I spoke of the devastation of sin and its effect on us personally and as a community. We see the results of that sin today. This action is occurring because priest-perpetrators sexually abused minors, going against everything the church and the priesthood represents," Listecki says.
Listecki said the recent failure to reach a settlement with victims made the bankruptcy filing inevitable.
"Since 2002, we have sold property, liquidated savings and investments, eliminated ministries and services, cut archdiocesan staff by nearly 40 percent, and put all available real estate on the market in order to free up resources," Listecki says.
But in the end, Listecki said, it wasn't enough. He said there are two goals with the reorganization – one, to fairly compensate victims and people who have yet to come forward. The second is protection from creditors so the church can continue operating. He said the process will be distressing, though he said it's a small penance for the harm that has been done.
"Like a damaged tree that is pruned drastically, I firmly believe our archdiocese will ultimately grow back healthier and stronger as long as our own faith remains rooted in Jesus Christ," Listecki says.
Listecki said a bankruptcy judge will decide how much of the archdiocese's existing financial obligations can be paid, and how. He said parishioners should not worry about losing their church or their school because those are separate corporations and not affected.
The bankruptcy filing was not welcome news to SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. The group's Midwest director, Peter Isley, says victims might get some money under the arrangement, but more than that, they want the church to release all records pertaining to the abuse of children. Isley says the bankruptcy filing sends the message to victims that their concerns are not important.
"We couldn't buy you off with money so now we're going to go and we're going to spend as much time as we can delaying, not getting these records out, not getting the truth out. That's I think exactly what they're telling these victims," Isley says.
Isley feels a potentially lengthy bankruptcy process is not the best option for church officials.
"They can talk about the records, they can talk about who is responsible for these crimes, they can talk about the names of these individuals, they can sign the oath that the victims want them to sign that they've never assaulted a child or know of anyone who has. That's what they can do, they can mediate, they can talk," Isley says.
Milwaukee is the eighth Catholic archdiocese in the U.S. to file for Chapter 11 because of sexual abuse claims.
Nick Cafardi is a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
"It's a last resort, it's absolutely a last resort. It's not something you do unless you're really forced to, because think about what you're doing, you're literally putting the assets of the bankrupt diocese and the bankrupt archdiocese into the hands of a federal bankruptcy court," Cafardi says.
Cafardi says the bankruptcies have been good and bad for both sides. He says victims get some compensation – though often not as much as they might have otherwise. And churches are able to move forward on a more solid financial footing, but can end up losing precious assets. Cafardi says we may see this imperfect process repeated in other places in the future.
"There are a number of states where bills are pending for the Legislature to lift the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases. If that happens, I think you can expect in those states to see more dioceses go into bankruptcy," Cafardi says.
Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki says the reorganization should be complete in 12 to 18 months, though he stresses the clergy sex abuse scandal has become a permanent piece of the church's history, and has created a need for ongoing ministry to those who have been harmed.
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