MILWAUKEE (WI)
Reuters
By Geoff Davidian
MILWAUKEE, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Milwaukee’s Roman Catholic archdiocese will ask a judge on Thursday to throw out hundreds of sexual abuse claims that have thrust it into bankruptcy, triggering a court battle and rekindling anger at the church’s mishandling of abusive clergy.
The aggressive stance taken by the archdiocese reminds victims’ advocates how leaders of the U.S. church long resisted pleas to deal harshly with offenders and fairly with victims during the decade-long scandal.
It also contrasts with earlier church bankruptcies where most victims’ claims of abuse were acknowledged and compensated, lawyers and experts said.
In court papers, the Milwaukee archdiocese is arguing in three test cases that the claims should be tossed out either because the abuse or church cover-up occurred too long ago, involved perpetrators such as a choir director who were not direct employees of the church, or involve victims who had already obtained settlements.
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