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	Association of Parishes Doesn't like Settlement By Nicholas K. Geranios The Associated Press, carried in KGW [Spokane WA] March 15, 2006 http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8GC9O1O1.html The individual parishes of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane do not want to help pay for a $45.7 million settlement offer made by Bishop William Skylstad to 75 victims of sexual abuse by priests, an attorney said Wednesday. The 82 parishes were expected to shoulder a hefty portion of the settlement costs, but instead will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to reject the settlement offer, said Bob Hailey, an attorney and spokesman for the parishes. "This settlement doesn't provide a mechanism for parishes to protect their churches and schools," Hailey said. Skylstad, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, was not available for comment immediately. Shaun Cross, an attorney for the diocese, said the association of parishes and the diocese were still in talks and it was too soon to say that the parishes will not participate in the settlement. "We are spending a lot of time with the AOP to give the group more information," Cross said. The settlement offer will be filed with Williams on Friday, Cross said. It must be approved by the judge and the victims. The association of parishes would have 23 days after the filing to file objections. The settlement offer has been controversial from the moment it was proposed Feb. 1. Concerns were raised about where the money would come from in a poor diocese, and how the diocese would deal with the dozens of additional victims who have filed claims since the bankruptcy filing. "Under the settlement as it stands now, there is no relationship between the amount of money a parish raises for the plan of reorganization and its ability to protect its church," Hailey said. The settlement also does not account for other parish expenses, such as the legal costs of the bankruptcy, replenishing priest retirement funds and other obligations that could cost more than $10 million, he said. If the bankruptcy judge approves the settlement plan anyway, the association of parishes will seek to amend it, Hailey said. Last Friday was the deadline for victims to file sex-abuse claims against the Spokane Diocese. A final number has not been released, but earlier this week diocese officials said at least 176 people had filed claims — more than double the number that prompted the bankruptcy filing a year ago. Though the deadline has passed, there is a possibility of even more victims. The bankruptcy action includes plans for a special class of victims who have yet to file allegations of abuse by clergy. These still-unknown victims, referred to as future claimants, are not bound by Friday's deadline. They include children who were abused recently or are now being abused; victims of past abuse who have repressed memories; victims who know they were abused but haven't yet realized that the abuse is a cause of problems; and others with reasons that precluded their filing claims by March 10. So far at least a dozen priests, including some who are deceased, have been accused of sexual abuse. Skylstad himself last week announced that he was named in one complaint by a woman who contends he molested her four decades ago in Spokane. Skylstad has vehemently denied her allegations, saying he has not violated the vow of celibacy he took 47 years ago. The diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection in November 2004, making it one of three dioceses in the U.S. seeking bankruptcy protection to handle hundreds of sex-abuse claims and lawsuits.
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