MILWAUKEE (WI)
WFTV
By M.L. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Wednesday it would set aside $4 million for clergy sexual abuse victims in its bankruptcy reorganization plan and that half the money would be borrowed from a controversial cemetery trust fund.
The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying pending sexual abuse lawsuits could leave it with debts it couldn’t pay. Its creditors include hundreds of people who have filed sexual abuse claims, a fraction of which would be eligible for payments under the reorganization plan.
Eleven Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy in the past decade, and others have set aside much larger sums to compensate victims of sexual abuse. The Milwaukee archdiocese itself agreed in 2006 to a nearly $16.7 million settlement for 10 victims in California who were abused by two of its priests while they were working there. Its total payments to victims before filing to bankruptcy came to $33 million.
Peter Isely, a spokesman for clergy sexual abuse victims, called the offer of $4 million “obscene,” noting the archdiocese spent much more on legal fees and paid considerable sums to pedophile priests it was removing from ministry.
“If lawyers are worth so much more to you than survivors, and if priests are worth so much more to you than children who are harmed … that is an organization that cannot be trusted in its public role,” Isely said.
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