MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter
Marie Rohde | Sep. 4, 2014
MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said Wednesday that he is hopeful there will soon be a resolution to the bankruptcy that has shadowed the archdiocese for nearly four years but said it’s up to the survivors of sexual abuse to give him a counterproposal to the $4 million he offered for compensation of some of the victims.
In a rare public event, Listecki responded to questions from the media at a Milwaukee Press Club luncheon.
Creditors in the bankruptcy, filed in January 2011, include more than 500 sex abuse claimants — although the archdiocese has challenged all but 120 of the claims — who have rejected the $4 million settlement offer. Listecki said that’s all the archdiocese had available.
Since then, the archdiocese has spent some $14 million on legal fees, prompting some to question whether the initial offer was sincere. The judge hearing the bankruptcy case, Susan V. Kelley, has ordered all sides to enter into mediation. An earlier mediation, like the one that Listecki said prompted the bankruptcy filing, failed.
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