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	Diocese of Wilmington Lay Workers Say Deal Struck on Pension Fund By Beth Miller News Journal June 22, 2011 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110622/NEWS/110622034/Diocese-Wilmington-lay-workers-say-deal-struck-pension-fund?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home A four-woman committee of lay employees announced today that the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has agreed to significant increases to its lay employees’ pension fund, including a $20 million investment this year and almost $20 million more in the next five years. The agreement, reached in meetings the Committee of Lay Employees held with Bishop W. Francis Malooly over the past month, removes the last significant obstacle as creditors vote on the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan. Those creditors, including about 150 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, have until June 30 to vote on the diocese plan. A July 8 hearing has been set to hear any remaining objections. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2009 after scores of survivors of clergy abuse filed suit under provisions of the 2009 Child Victims Act, which opened a two-year window for civil suits that would otherwise have been barred by the statute of limitations. Earlier this year, the diocese negotiated a $77.4 million settlement with abuse survivors. But lay employees, represented by attorney Donald Detweiler, said the settlement would drain the diocese’s coffers, leaving vested pensioners at the mercy of a severely underfunded pension fund. Detweiler said the diocese’s pension obligations were worth about $60 million - $50 million more than the diocese offered in its first proposal. Survivors of abuse, meanwhile, were concerned that the pensioners’ objections would reduce or further delay their negotiated settlement. “This agreement completely respects the settlement that was already made,” said Terry Mattina, co-chair of the Committee of Lay Employees. “We support that settlement and were happy to have that in place already. We know that none of that money is going to be used.” "This is very good news," said Wilmington attorney Thomas Neuberger, whose firm represented the majority of abuse survivors. "It looks like we're reaching the end of the road here with the diocese." "As I have said since the beginning of the bankruptcy process, I am committed to fulfilling the obligations of the diocese to our employees and retirees who are beneficiaries of the plan," Malooly said in a prepared statement. "The additional funding and other steps we have agreed to take will secure the lay pension plan, ensuring the retirement benefits our employees have earned. I am grateful to the members of the committee who worked hard to achieve an agreement that ensures the viability of the pension plan, while enabling the diocese to manage its obligation to fully fund the plan.” Contact Beth Miller at 324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com
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