Helena Diocese Reorganization Plan Approved, $16m for Abuse Victims

KBZK
January 15, 2015

http://www.kbzk.com/news/helena-diocese-reorganization-plan-approved-16m-for-abuse-victims/

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a reorganization plan for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena that includes a $16 million settlement for hundreds of people who sued the diocese over clergy sex abuse.

The plan, approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers in Missoula, includes another $4.45 million payment from the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province to settle a lawsuit filed by 45 Native Americans who alleged abuse and sex abuse at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius over the same time period.

The plan will now go to a vote of creditors, the 362 plaintiffs in two lawsuits against the Diocese, and the plaintiffs in the Ursuline lawsuit.

The settlement calls for the Diocese to post on its website the names of all known past and present perpetrators who are identified in sexual abuse claims or in the lawsuits.

The Diocese will fund its share of the settlement with $14.5 million from insurers and at least $2 million in cash, according to documents in the reorganization plan.

It also provides a mechanism for anyone to appeal terms of the settlement and gives the Diocese 45 days to file full details of the reorganization plan.