Bankrupt Wis. Church Tries to Limit Abuse Claims

By Chuck Quirmbach
NPR
February 16, 2012

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/16/146995458/bankrupt-wis-church-tries-to-limit-abuse-claims

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki answers questions at a news conference Jan. 4 in St. Francis, Wis. Listecki said the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is directing its attorneys to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying that pending sexual abuse lawsuits have left it with financial claims that exceed its means. Photo by Morry Gash

Arthur Budzinski alleges that he was molested by the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who ran a school for the deaf and died in 1998. Above, Budzinski and his daughter Gigi Budzinski stand outside the offices of the Milwaukee Archdiocese in 2010. Photo by Ernie Mastroianni

[with audio]

Nine Catholic archdioceses around the country have filed for bankruptcy over the past decade, including the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In each case, this followed multimillion-dollar claims from victims sexually abused by priests and other church employees.

Milwaukee's case is different from all the others in one important way: The church there is playing legal hardball and trying to dramatically limit the claims of 570 people who say they were abused.

Despite the bankruptcy, Catholic churches in Milwaukee are still open for worship.

It's Mass at St. Vincent Pallotti Church, and about 200 parishioners sing, pray, and then watch a videotaped appeal from Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. The church is beginning an annual fund drive. Listecki makes clear that the money will go to programs like Catholic schools and adult day care, and will not be part of the yearlong Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

"Your gift will be segregated from other assets of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and used solely to support the appeal-funded ministry," Listecki says.

Not far from St. Vincent Pallotti's, 54-year-old Mark Salmon stands in his living room and talks about his early childhood. He describes it as a pretty innocent time. Salmon holds a picture of himself at age 7 standing next to then-Milwaukee Braves baseball star Henry "Hank" Aaron.

"I had, of course, my Milwaukee Braves jacket on," Salmon remembers. "My glove pretty much like the one Henry Aaron had, which he signed for me, and I also had a book — The Henry Aaron Story — that he also signed for me."

Salmon says his boyhood innocence and fondness for the Catholic Church ended about a year later, when his male Catholic grade school teacher sexually assaulted him. Later, a school official allegedly did the same, he says. Salmon has gone on to become a financial adviser with a family of his own. He says cover-ups by the archdiocese are what prompted him to file a claim in the bankruptcy case.

"I'm in it for the accountability," he says. "I'm in it for all the other survivors, also. There are so many survivors that are not in the position that some of us are in to articulate their feelings and to demand accountability."

Last week, the Milwaukee abuse victims won a significant procedural victory in federal bankruptcy court. Judge Susan Kelley ruled against motions by the church that would have blocked hundreds of victims from pursuing their claims.

Earlier, Kelley had ordered the archdiocese to encourage victims to file. So when the church attempted to knock out many of the cases, Arthur Budzinski was angered. Budzinski is among about 200 former students at a Milwaukee school for the deaf who say they were abused as children.

"It's almost like Archbishop Listecki lied," Budzinski said, through his daughter Gigi, who interprets for him from sign language. "And he's breaking the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not lie."

Church spokeswoman Julie Wolf says Listecki is trying to strike a balance between two competing needs. "And I think the archbishop has always stated that our goal is to fairly compensate victims and continue our essential ministries of the church," Wolf says.

Wolf says the Milwaukee Archdiocese has offered to set up a $300,000 therapy fund for abuse victims who would be removed from the bankruptcy case. Victims' advocates say that amount would be far too small.

Jonathan Lipson, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been closely following the various diocesan bankruptcies. He explains the bitterness in Milwaukee.

"If you have people who for 15 years say, 'We've been trying to get the church to recognize the harm that was done to us,' and for 15 years the church simply refuses, you know, that can create a lot of animosity," Lipson says.

Lipson says the U.S. bankruptcy system is ill-equipped to handle cases that involve hundreds of people who say they were sexually abused. But for victims in Milwaukee, many who were abused decades ago, this is the court of last resort.