Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Files for Bankruptcy

By Tom Corrigan
Wall Street Journal
January 16, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/archdiocese-of-st-paul-and-minneapolis-files-for-bankruptcy-1421423711

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn., became the 12th U.S. Roman Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of sexual-abuse claims against its clergy.

The archdiocese, home to 187 parishes and 825,000 parishioners, filed for Chapter 11 protection Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Paul, Minn.

Catholic dioceses have used the breathing room offered by Chapter 11 to negotiate settlements with alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy and others, deals that can total many millions of dollars and include nonmonetary forms of compensation such as the release of long-shielded church documents detailing the alleged abuse and subsequent coverup.

The Twin Cities archdiocese’s chief financial officer, Thomas Mertens, has previously disclosed that all options, including a bankruptcy reorganization, are on the table to address the “numerous” sexual abuse lawsuits already filed or expected to be brought against the archdiocese.