BURLINGTON (VT)
Rutland Herald [Rutland, VT]
October 4, 2024
This week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve 31 outstanding sex abuse lawsuits.
With assets largely depleted and a lack of insurance coverage, the diocese claims it has no other option if it is to settle with survivors. “The Diocese determined that reorganization under Chapter 11 is the only way to fairly and equitably fulfill the Diocese’s obligations to all survivors of sexual abuse,” Bishop John McDermott stated in the affidavit.
In the wake of groundbreaking reporting by the Boston Globe in the early 2000s that revealed widespread sexual abuse by Catholic priests, as well as a massive conspiracy to cover up the matter, dioceses across the country, including here in Vermont, have reckoned with those sins — and paid dearly for them, both morally and financially. Since 2006, the Burlington Diocese has paid $34 million to settle 67 lawsuits filed by survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of dozens of clergy members dating back to the 1950s. In 2019, the diocese was hit with a wave of new lawsuits when the Vermont Legislature lifted the statute of limitations in cases involving the sexual abuse of minors.
To pay those settlements, the diocese, has sold church properties — including its former Chancery Office in Burlington, and Camp Holy Cross in Colchester — received some insurance funds, and in recent years used its investments and operating funds. But with more than 30 lawsuits still pending, McDermott said there is little money left.
According to the affidavit, the diocese currently employs 54 people and owns eight properties. Vermont now joins 32 other U.S. dioceses and three religious orders that have filed for bankruptcy protection, according to the group BishopAccountability.org.
“Failure to file for reorganization at this time would likely result in civil actions continuing for many years with those victims who first filed lawsuits potentially receiving larger awards or settlements leaving little, if any, funds for any remaining victims. Through Chapter 11 reorganization, funds will be allocated among all those who have claims against the Diocese while hopefully allowing the Diocese to maintain its essential mission and ministries,” the bishop said in a statement Wednesday.
He continued: “I know that the decision to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 may be challenging and even triggering for some survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and their loved ones. For that and for every aspect of dealing with the crimes of these clergy, I sincerely apologize. This chapter in the church’s history is terrible and the harm it has caused immeasurable.”
McDermott added that the diocese’s 63 parishes and other associated agencies across Vermont are not included in the bankruptcy filing, though he said he couldn’t guarantee those entities wouldn’t have to contribute to the final reorganization plan. Since 2006, parishes have held their assets in individual trusts — a move done in 2006 to shield an estimated $500 million in property assets from future sex abuse settlements, according to VT Digger.
But while McDermott is presenting it as a win for survivors, critics, like the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), called it a “legal tactic” and a “cruel maneuver” intended to avoid accountability. As part of the Chapter 11 process, settlement amounts will likely be reduced. Additionally, it will create a deadline, or “bar date,” beyond which people will no longer be able to file claims of abuse.
“In fact, we suspect that the real motive behind the decision is to prevent disclosures about what happened to these brave survivors as children, as well as the knowledge that the Diocese could have prevented that harm in most, if not all, the cases,” the organization said Wednesday in a statement, adding, “We are concerned that important information will remain hidden from parishioners and the public because of this bankruptcy. We believe that churches and communities are less safe when information about child predators remains secret.”
We agree filing for bankruptcy is a tidy way to move on from the diocese’s shameful past. With few assets remaining and an obligation to continue serving the 100,000 or so Catholics in Vermont, we understand the need to keep the lights on, while still doing something to compensate survivors. However, we believe the diocese has fallen short in atoning for its decades-long complicity in these heinous acts of abuse.
Perhaps the diocese can expand and build on the good works and charity carried out by those in local parishes across the state and do something to help our neighbors. Rather than shielding parish assets in trusts, the diocese could perform an inventory with an eye toward repurposing or developing dormant and underused properties as homeless shelters and housing. Assets could be liquidated to compensate abuse survivors while also meeting a vital need in our communities. Such efforts could be incorporated into church ministries, giving pastors and parishioners alike an opportunity to step out of the pews and truly live a life in Christ.
No amount of money or mea culpas will ever ease the pain, erase the trauma, or remove the stain of what the Catholic Church allowed to happen here in Vermont and around the world. Even now, contrite statements — however sincere they may be — and pledges to settle all outstanding claims feel insufficient. After decades of lies and coverups, it’s too little too late. And while we may eventually be able to forgive, it’s much harder to forget what we know to be true: The Burlington Diocese, like so many others, was bankrupt long before it filed for Chapter 11.