NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Nola.com [New Orleans, LA]
September 13, 2024
By Stephanie Riegel
More than four years after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a growing number of childhood sex abuse claims against local priests and other clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans filed a reorganization plan Friday that seeks to compensate abuse survivors for their decades of suffering while keeping the nation’s second-oldest diocese financially afloat.
The plan came just hours after abuse survivors submitted their own proposal, one requesting monetary compensation far greater than the amount offered by the church, highlighting the gulf that has persisted between the two sides since the case was filed in May 2020.
The church’s plan would create a $62.5 million trust for survivors, with $50 million coming from the archdiocese and $12.5 million coming from its parishes and charitable organizations, which are not technically in bankruptcy themselves.
The trust would get additional money from the sale of church-owned properties, though there is no estimate in the plan of how much those property sales would generate.
The plan also calls for giving a court-appointed trustee the right to pursue millions of additional dollars for survivors from church insurance companies, which have not yet agreed to the settlement. There is no estimate of what those suits could eventually bring.
An estimated 550 survivors have filed claims in the case, which, if distributed equally, would mean survivors would get about $113,600 each under a $62.5 million plan, not counting the additional money that will come from property sales and, potentially, insurers down the line.
Earlier Friday, attorneys for the committee that represents abuse survivors in the cased filed a competing plan that proposes a far greater settlement — $217 million, with $84 million from the archdiocese and $133 million from local parishes. Notably, that plan also seeks $777 million from five church insurers, which, if realized, would bring the total settlement to nearly $1 billion, dwarfing all of the other 24 church bankruptcy cases around the country that have settled to date.
The specter of competing plans sets up a showdown that will shape negotiations to come in a case that has been contentious and increasingly expensive since its filing. At the time, Archbishop Gregory Aymond estimated the case would take less than a year and cost around $7 million to resolve. So far, legal fees alone have topped $41 million.
In a letter to the roughly 500,000 Roman Catholics in the archdiocese, Aymond said Friday’s filing is “a milestone” that he hopes is the beginning of the end of a process. He also apologized to survivors.
“We know that no amount of money can provide complete healing,” Aymond’s letter said. “For most of the survivors, this is suffering that has persisted as long as 40 and even 50 years. For the pain of those that have suffered abuse, we are truly sorry. We regret that abuse occurred causing decades of pain for survivors.”
The archdiocese did not comment on the plan file by the abuse survivors.
Local attorney Soren Giselson, whose firm represents about one-third of the survivors in the case, said his clients “stand united” behind the plan filed by the court-appointed committee that represents all survivors.
“While not perfect, the plan recognizes the need to fairly compensate the more than 550 abuse survivors who were raped as children by pedophile clergy enabled by the Archdiocese.”
Selling off stained glass windows
The competing plans are not only drastically different in the settlements they propose but in how they would pay for them. The committee’s plan seeks to sell off dozens of church-owned properties and more than 500 pieces of jewelry, art and antiques.
The total for the sale of those assets isn’t included in the plan but includes such church treasures as stained-glass windows in the St. Louis Cathedral and 18th century religious paintings hanging in the cathedral and in the Old Ursulines Convent.
The committee’s plan also proposes funding the survivors’ trust with a portion of every future donation to the church greater than $250,000.
The church’s plan lists hundreds of church properties and also those owned by its affiliates but doesn’t specify which might sold. The plan does not talk about selling church art or antiques.
The two plans also differ in the non-monetary settlements they propose. The archdiocese’s plan includes a list of provisions that promise to guard against future clergy sex abuse and includes stricter protocols in the event abuse is reported.
The committee’s plan would go a step further, requiring the archdiocese to report all crimes to local authorities, regardless of whether the abuser is dead, the victim is now an adult, or however many years may have passed.
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com