MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee won a victory in its bankruptcy Thursday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley agreed to move forward with a key document that, once approved, would put the local church one step closer to exiting its 3-year old Chapter 11 proceedings.

Kelley stressed Thursday that she was not taking up the archdiocese’s reorganization plan, only its accompanying disclosure statement, which is intended to give creditors enough information to vote on the plan.

Attorneys for the creditors committee, which includes sex abuse survivors, had asked Kelley to delay acting on the statement. They argued the judge should first decide a separate point of contention: whether the archdiocese had the right to include in the reorganization plan that a pending lawsuit over $60 million in archdiocesan cemetery funds would be settled.

Kelley denied those requests,…