NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune [New Orleans LA]
July 21, 2024
By Stephanie Riegel
Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he has agreed to release old files controlled by the Archdiocese of New Orleans detailing decades of child sex abuse by local clergy and make the documents publicly accessible once the church’s long-running bankruptcy case is resolved.
As part of a settlement in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ ongoing bankruptcy case, Aymond also said he is also willing to meet with small groups of abuse survivors in a neutral “safe space” and allow them to tell their stories, though he said he would keep the meeting closed to the public and the media.
“I am very open to that,” Aymond said.
Aymond’s comments, which represent his first public vows to release the documents, came during three days of interviews on a wide range of issues related to the church’s financial issues, the clergy sex abuse crisis and the spiritual health of the nation’s second-oldest archdiocese.
The church is now four years into the bankruptcy process, which has reached a critical juncture with legal fees piling up, a mediator working to make progress on settlement talks and most recently a search warrant issued by the Louisiana State Police in relation to a criminal investigation into the archdiocese.
Aymond said the archdiocese is continuing to scan thousands of church documents dating back to the 1800s in order to fill a sweeping search warrant that was served on the church in late April by State Police investigators.
“We are people of integrity so we are not going to play any games,” Aymond said. “We will give over to them all our files.”
The archdiocese filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy members. More than four years later, it isn’t clear when, or whether, all the parties will reach a settlement that abuse survivors will accept and the church can afford.
Part of healing
Part of the settlement plan will include nonmonetary provisions to compensate survivors, which in other church bankruptcy cases have included things like restorative justice programs and healing services. The most striking example of a nonmonetary settlement came in the case of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which agreed in early 2023 to establish a public archive of clergy sex abuse at the University of New Mexico.
Advocates of clergy sex abuse survivors hailed the move as unprecedented and significant. They have said full public disclosure of church secrets is important for healing because it helps pierce the veil of shame that surrounds child sex abuse and validates survivors.
Aymond said he has pledged to do the same in New Orleans.
“We will do that,” he said. “They will be available at one of the libraries or whatever. We have agreed to that already.”
Settlement talks in the case are confidential and attorneys for both sides are not at liberty to discuss whatever aspects of the plan, if any, have been agreed upon. It is unclear whether the files Aymond has offered to make public will go far enough to satisfy abuse survivors.
Willing to meet
Aymond also said he will meet with survivors to let them tell their stories, though his attorneys successfully fought a move in the bankruptcy case earlier this spring that would have allowed survivors time to speak, one or two at a time, at the end of the monthly court hearings.
Attorneys for the archdiocese argued, and U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill agreed, that such a public reckoning need not occur until a settlement plan has been proposed and is before the court for approval. Attorneys for abuse survivors said requiring those survivors to approve a plan only so they could then have their day in court to speak out could pressure them to accept a lower settlement.
Aymond said he is willing to meet outside of court in a neutral space, selected by survivors, and would be willing to meet with several survivors at a time, not just one or two, as he has previously done.
“If it was a larger group, I would listen and take notes, and at the end, I would say words, but I wouldn’t interrupt anyone,” Aymond said. “If it was a smaller group, we could talk about what happened and the specifics of that and I could make a sincere apology on behalf of the church and be able to interact.”
Still scanning documents
Aymond also updated the progress the archdiocese has made in filling the search warrant served on church headquarters that was issued in late April. A sworn statement attached to the warrant said investigators are looking into how church leaders handled allegations of abuse, referencing nude pool parties at the Notre Dame Seminary with abuse victims and a system for marking young victims for abuse by giving them gifts that they would bring from one priest to another.
Aymond said attorneys for the archdiocese have been overseeing the scanning, compilation and indexing of more than a century’s worth of church records and turning them over to investigators as they are completed.
As of Wednesday, the process was continuing, according to a spokesperson for the archdiocese, who could not say what percentage of documents have been turned over.
A State Police spokesman said the archdiocese is cooperating and that the investigation is ongoing.
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com.