BishopAccountability.org
	Delaware Catholics Back Wilmington Bankruptcy Filing (update1) By Jef Feeley and Phil Milford Bloomberg October 20, 2009 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aokSPDqMCsKs Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Catholics in Wilmington, Delaware, say Bishop W. Frances Malooly’s decision to put the diocese in bankruptcy may be a necessary evil. Malooly said yesterday the filing was prompted by a breakdown in talks aimed at settling 131 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests. Damage awards to abuse victims would further deplete the resources of the diocese, which has shut parishes and schools in recent years to save money. “It was the right move if they wanted to minimize the financial impact on the diocese,” said Frank Joyce Jr., a 32- year-old document-delivery service worker and member of Christ Our King Parish in Wilmington. The parish grade school he attended closed in June 2005. Bankruptcy “doesn’t make Catholics look very good, but the bishop had to act to protect everyone’s interests,” Joyce said. The Oct. 18 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington halted a trial set to start the next day in state court in Dover, Delaware’s capital, over abuse allegations leveled at a former priest in the diocese. The case was one of at least 17 set for trial against priests who worked in the 233,000-member diocese, which includes the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Lawyers for some of the abuse victims have filed motions in the bankruptcy case asking a judge to allow them to press ahead with their lawsuits. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi hasn’t ruled on the requests. Seventh Filing The bankruptcy filing was the seventh by a U.S. Catholic diocese since 2004 that was linked to lawsuits over abuse. The others included dioceses in Fairbanks, Alaska; Portland, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; Davenport, Iowa; and Tucson, Arizona. In 2007, San Diego’s Catholic diocese agreed to pay $198 million to settle 144 abuse claims. “I don’t think the diocese had much of a choice,” Lynne Sadusky, a 48-year-old homemaker, said in an interview. Multimillion dollar awards to abuse victims would devastate the Wilmington diocese’s finances and imperil services, said Sadusky, a Eucharistic minister at Holy Cross Parish in Dover. Advocates for abuse victims say the bankruptcy filing is a litigation tactic designed to fend off publicity about priests’ misbehavior. “It’s absolutely a ploy,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “The crisis has always been about secrecy for church officials, from day one.” There is nothing “a Catholic bishop fears more” than being forced to testify about “how much he knew and how little he did about predatory priests,” said Clohessy, 53, who said he was abused by a priest in the late 1960s. ‘Bishop Has Won’ The diocese could have sought bank financing or used insurance-policy proceeds to resolve the abuse cases outside bankruptcy court, Clohessy said. By seeking court protection, “the bishop has already won,” he said. “Ultimately, it will drag on for years, and secrets will stay secret.” Michelle Flanagan, a north Wilmington resident and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioner, said she hopes Clohessy is wrong about the reasons behind the bankruptcy filing. Church officials “hid a lot in the past,” said Flanagan, a homemaker who coaches cross-country at a local high school. “I hope they are doing it because it’s the right thing for the victims.” The case is In Re Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, 09BK13560, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, (Wilmington). To contact the reporters on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net; Jef Feeley in Wilmington at jfeeley@bloomberg.net
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.